Echoes of a Sheikah
by IAMNOTREAL636
Summary: It was a sickness. A festering wound that had been made deep in my past. A slice with gilded sword into my heart and that of my people. Those who bound themselves by silence had screamed bloody to the skies that night, to the gods, but their Deity's had turned a blind eye, a moonless sky. We died in darkness, and I rose in shadows, seeking my vengeance. SheikxLink, male Sheik.
1. Prologue

**Nightmare**

"**You learned to run from what you feel, and that's why you have nightmares. To deny is to invite madness. To accept is to control."**

**-Megan Chance, The Spiritualist **

* * *

It felt something much like falling though he was completely still. A world of blues and greens rushing around and past while he remained motionless, an unwilling participant in some bizarre delusion. Was he flying through the trees? No, the sky became bright, yellows and wind, and air so fresh it stung. And before he knew it grays and the taste of iron, stone all around.

"This is only the beginning."

A womans voice echoes from below and upon looking down he sees a beautiful Princess in a red and gold high court, her pale pink dress softening the truth he can see in her face as he slowly floats down to her level. Azure eyes only add to the depths of the knowledge he can feel from her gaze, hinting to the infinite wisdom within. Knights in full and regal armor line the walls, two holding open polished and well aged doors though they make no sound. And through those doors walks a man great in stature and imposing presence, all dark palettes save for his eyes. Two citrine jewels amongst a unpolished face, gruff as the sands he can feel shaped this being of power.

"This is the end of all things."

The desert mans voice is sure and even, as if he has the fullest confidence in his words, all the cards stacked in his favor. The unwilling witness turns to the Princess, to see how she might respond, and realizes her eyes are locked on himself and not the imposing visitor to these halls.

"The Hero will save us."

She's blurring around the edges… everything is. It's all becoming more fuzzy than it had been at first, and as he turns to the strange man he sees he is growing blurry at the edges too, but his yellow eyes are looking straight at him as well.

"The Hero will try. And fail."

It's like they're talking to him, but why? He's not even really there, his feet aren't even touching the ground. Or maybe that doesn't matter here, since he's just a blur of green and skin, existing just about as much as either of them.

"Wisdom stands for him."

The Princess lifts her fist to the air, something golden and sharp glowing on the back of her glove, making the rest of the world around her seem dark in contrast.

"Power stands for itself."

The man mimics the action, with their gilded golden light combined the rest of the royal court hall is nothing more than color-lacking shadows, though oddly himself and the two speakers remain lit.

"And Courage stands for all."

It's his voice? Only it isn't, it's deeper and more sure than he has ever felt. But someone, something that's now only identifiable as a green blur steps out from where he has been, taking its place between the two others. He can sense something so familiar from the form it sends liquid electric down his spine; had his legs been responsible for supporting him he could have crashed to his knees.

The third and final figure raises his hand, another golden triangle lining the back, the only difference being the sword held aloft to the sky, which he's now only realizing that this room has no roof, leading his gaze upward to a grand and mystical sky he has never seen before on the clearest of nights.

An uncountable number of stars fill the void, each sparkling with their own pulsing inner lights. Where he had only ever seen the darkness of night and the one creamy belt in the night sky, this one has clouds of colors cast here and there, each one slowly swirling and moving across the field, colors to match every flower he had even found roaming the forest. And the stars… they were moving! Swirling and making forms, shapes out of the void, reminding him of the Fae.

He is so enraptured by the sight that it feels like several moments have passed before he looks back down to his level, realizing that the figures that had once been there have all faded into the shadows. But a new figure has taken their place. He is a mess of dark blues and whites, all rough and jagged at the edges even as his stance is solid and smooth, but the eyes are clear as the others had been. Ruby reds, not a few feet away, stare down at him, watching more calmly than the others had been. The wise woman and the strong man had been staring at him as if awaiting something, but this one seemed more like it was simple observing, waiting for nothing. As startling as the color was, it made him feel more at peace than the others; just him and the understanding red, beneath the infinite sky.

"I am the Guide."

Something dark bubbles from the ground between them both, curling up in silk black tendrils and assuming a form he swears is familiar. Only the red eyes, much like yet very different from the other beings, are identifiable within the pitch.

"I am the Corruption."

Though the voice was soothing the second self appointed title panged bitter in the air, and though he could not speak himself he felt the voice of the green power from the throne room before raise in his own voices absence.

"You don't have to be."

Who was it speaking to? Who didn't have to be who? The forms were becoming more solid, details more clear, but just as he thought to catch faces both the red eyed man and the shadow tilted their heads skyward, admiring the stars much the same as he had done just before.

"Someone must, Hero."

Hero… The name sends a violent shiver across his body and into his gut, and this time he is allowed to buckle over from the trembling pains. He can feel the world shift again around him but knows he can do nothing, already having caught on that he is simply along for the ride.

The world flashes with wicked thunder, his spine straightening right up as the world re-dims, and he finds himself standing in a grassy field at night, feeling far more real than any of the other places he's seen yet. He's never been anywhere where there wasn't a tree or bush within arms length, and while the stone castle hall had been startling, this was even more so. It was raining and vast, and it felt so empty out here, so open and cold, that only now he felt himself missing his forest home. By comparison this was a void, no end in sight, and taking it all in made his stomach drop to his knees.

Thunder shook the world again and behind him metal rattled, the boy turning around to see what horrible thing could be there. A bridge was falling, barely caught on it's chains as it fell toward the water and earth, a familiar and foreign golden crest above its opening glinting in the midnight rain.

From the sleeping town that lay inside, a horse turned a corner and dashed toward him in a made dash, frothing at the mouth, two riders leaning forward with the steeds break neck stride. A young girl and a red eye warrior, reminding him of the male from before. As they speed past the girl leaned to look back at him, a frightened and pleading look barely discernible before they were devoured by the dark.

"HEY, LINK! WAKE UP!"

He turns, startled by the feminine whiny voice, only to find the imposing man from before atop his own steed, perhaps following after the two others who just past? Or chasing them…

"Honestly, can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?"

* * *

AN: So this is the beginning of a very,_ very_, **very** long story. She's fully planned, about 50k written already, and much more to come. This story will be broken apart into Two Books. This is Part One of Book One. This Part One will basically be a retelling of Ocarina of Time up to Link entering the Temple of Time, though somethings will be changed for story sake.**_ As for Part One, there are no_ pairings.** Just a retelling of Childhood and some other peoples beginnings. So no, not even fluff. Sorry guys I'm a writer who values plot more than romance.

Though, a warning, this story will far _far_ down the line be LinkxSheik, in which yes, Sheik is a male and separate from Zelda completely. But that's long off, for now enjoy a retelling off their younger years and the events leading up to the Seven Year War and the Hero of Time. Also will update quickly at the beginning to show this story is active, then will slow down to weekly updates.

~IANR636~


	2. A Boy and His Fairy

**A Boy and His Fairy**

"**He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy."**

**-Socrates**

* * *

Cerulean eyes open to a familiar and calming sight; his home, linen sheets right beneath his head and swirling wood grains the ever present pattern. He didn't even have a moment to try and hold onto the dream before a queer blue light finally caught his sleepy attention, floating somewhere over head.

'A Fae, probably, but why in my house…' His mind was torn between the fragments of the dream swiftly slipping away and the visitor as he pushed himself to sit over the edge of his thin bed, dangling and kicking his legs to help warm them up.

"Finally! Man you sure do sleep like a log, ya know?" The blue light fluttered over to his table, poking closely at the bag of rupees he left there from yesterdays excursion; he'd found over twenty green pieces right by the bridge, pretty good haul. "Anyways, I'm Navi, the fairy." She bobbed back over to him, light brightening and dimming in quick succession, the small boy able to tell by now that it meant she was happy if slightly shy. "But I'm sure you already knew that, the fairy part anyways." And flustered.

"The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on! So it's nice to meet you!"

"Wait, partner?" He scrubbed at his eyes, the light of the fairy in the dim room starting to give him a headache; way too early in the morning for this wasn't it? And a partner… why… why now? Why him? Hadn't it been some unspoken understanding that he didn't get to have a partner? Some Kokiri even had two by now, but no, never anything for him. Why would the Deku Tree decide to now?

"Yeah you heard me right, oh! And the Great Deku Tree wanted to meet with you, so we should get going." Navi danced around over to his bookshelf (which really had more junk on it than any real books), clearly deciding his home was open to her poking her business into. Not that he minded much, this was his fairy after all,, supposedly, but still…

Wow, his fairy. His very own fairy! Sent just for him! He smiled as he pushed off the bed, suddenly feeling far more awake in light of the realization. He would never be alone again! Not that anyone was every alone in this forest, what with the fireflies and the Skull Children, specifically the one that liked to bother him sometimes, but this was way better than all of that!

"I'm Link." The blond boy walked over to his table to take a sip of water from the glass he left out last night, still tasting just as fresh as when he got it from the crystal clear stream just the other day.

"I know your name, obviously, since I was sent to you."

Navi was a little sassy, but then that was a common trait among Faes it seemed so he wasn't really put off too much. She was flighty and quick as she jumped around, investigating this and that and making little comments only she could possibly hear. His home was as simple as the next Kokiri really, a good collection of random this and that's he'd found over the years, some drawings on his walls courtesy of Lati and his mostly eaten basket of cookies from Fado who was the only one who could trade with the Skull Kids after their excursions into the outside world.

"Hey! Listen!" Link looked over at the fairy now hovering at the door, clearly having found everything of interest in his home and now waiting on him. "The Deku Tree needs you, as in now, so let's get going lazy bum!" Clearly that was the end of her very short patience as she darted outside, Link able to just make out her squeaky mutterings as she left.

Figures he would get the temperamental rude fairy, but better than no fairy he supposed. He finished off the rest of the water and began to slip into his well worn boots, tapping the toes on the floor to make sure he was snug before grabbing his wallet off the table and moving to follow his new friend.

The sky was clear and the forest bright today, streams of light warming him up perfectly as he stood outside his door, stretching and yawning one last time. There had been a dream hadn't there? Something both strange and familiar, but now he couldn't place it, the fragments all but gone. Oh well, he was sure it was a nightmare, so it was best forgotten. Maybe tomorrow he could dream of something better, like the strange adventures he dreamed of sometimes, now those were for remembering and telling to his best friend later on.

"Yahoo! Good morning Link! Tee hee!"

Speaking of, there she was now, standing at the base of the tree, waving up at him. 'Up… oh.' Saria always did this, and she didn't care, none of the other Kokiri really, but something about someone standing below him and able to see up his tunic was just really bothersome. And embarrassing. Link sniffled as he turned to climb down the ladder, ignoring the fact that she could still see _something_ because it was simply too early to deal with all this. He'd already had to deal with that Navi…

"Oh, guess what?" The blond jumped the last few feet down, landing heavily with practiced ease, straightening his green outfit as he moved to stand in front of the girl. "I have a—"

"Come on Link! You're so slow!" The little blue ball of light frittered from nowhere to land on his hat, belly flopping down with a dramatic sigh and forcing him to cross his eyes as she hung a twig of an arm right between his brows. "The Deku Tree's gonna call on someone else at this rate…"

"Oh, a fairy!" Saria's face brightened up immensely at the sight of the new friend, her own pink orb of light appearing out of her hair in a flash, instantly beginning to circle around the bossy lounger on his head. The girl inched closer herself, pushing up on her toes and placing her hands on Links shoulders to be more stable, pushing his face right into her neck. "Hi there, I'm Saria, what's your name?"

"Don't forget me too!" The pink fairy jingled up high and came down to land in Saria's hair once again, but all the while Link was rather too distracted to pay any attention to the conversation. After all, a girl was leaning over him, on him, her front right in his nose, and it was really warm and distracting and nice and who cared about Mido way over there glaring and tapping his foot like a drummer at war. And blushing too, well so was Link, but clearly the red head was furious more than anything. Link would have to be amused by that later to his face.

"—but she really looks good in blue I think. Most fairy's are pink or yellow."

"Saria! I've told you before, I'm not _pink_, I'm coral! Like in the ocean? Oh how I'd love to see the ocean…"

"Well I'm blue, more of a pale cobalt really, because I've been around for such a long time. Did you know that I was with The Great Deku Tree when he was only just a little—"

Okay, nothing important happening, he could just stay here and appreciate the blocked view for a little while. Besides, he'd take a nice little joy later in telling Mido what Saria smelled like. Blue Reindeer Moss, the kind that grew on the trees next to the river.

"Link are you even listening?" Saria let go of him and stepped back, herself and now both of the Fae's on top her head pouting down at him.

"Huh? Uhm… yes?"

"…See, this is what I meant by slow." Navi sighed and fluttered back over to him to circle his head, little bits of fairy powder tickling his nose. "Anyways, we should get going, Deku Tree calling and all. Heh." And he's the slow one, she just spent forever talking to the girls. About what color they were… see he was listening, it just wasn't terribly interesting conversation was all.

"Oh my yes, that would be a good idea Link. Come back and tell me what The Great Deku Tree wanted, alright?" Saria smiled and pushed him onward, planting herself down on a snarl of roots in front of his house and pulling out her ocarina. Clearly she was going to wait for him. Oh well, besides this he didn't have much else planned today.

Speaking of… why would the Deku Tree want to see him? Not that he was any less important than anyone else, but the Guardian never met with any of them individually. They were always gathering together for important events; like the First Bloom, or in the Spring for births. But being called alone…

Link slowed his steps, not as eager anymore to get where he was going as quickly, the boy shyly waving to one of the Twins as he passed their house. Which one of them it was though, he couldn't be sure.

"Hey Navi…"The blond boy realized he wasn't sure where the Fae was, but she was probably hovering somewhere near-by, being his after all. "What does the Deku Tree want anyways?"

The fairy in question was quick to rise out of his hat and fly about his head, following him as he moved along. "Oh, I dunno, something about it being time drawing near I think. Very impending doom sounding."

He stopped on the spot, glaring up at the fairy still bobbing around, moving rather light-heartedly as if the news she just delivered had no deep meaning what so ever. His fingers twitched and wanting to stop her flight Link cupped out his hands and caged her like a moth, ignoring the squeak as he brought her down to his level and just moved his thumb to peek inside. "What do you mean impending doom. Why would that have anything to do with me?"

Navi huffed and pushed her top half out of the opening provided, glaring right back at the blue eyed boy. "I don't know. That's why you should hurry!"

"Hmm…" After a moment he let her go to flutter back above him and continued on, now more curious than anything to see why he would be summoned. Something important sounding like this, you would think he would call for Saria, since she was the oldest of them, or even Mido, since he was the self-proclaimed protector of the village.

"Halt! What buthiness have you with The Great Deku Tree?"

More like a bully really, but he never hurt anyone. Just annoyed them.

"Out of my way Mido, I've been summoned."

The red-heads face instantly scrunched up at the news, clearly finding distaste and disbelief in the words, his words slurring as he spoke. "I dunno, why wouth he thumon a little pipthueak like you? There'th nothing _you_ could pothibly do for him The Greath Mido couldn'th!"

"Here we go…" Link rolled his shoulder and scuffed his boot on the short grass below, trying to decide what to do about this. Unfortunately Mido was bigger and stronger than him, many a tussle in the brush and bruises had taught him that lesson, but sometimes he could bargain past. It was just a matter of finding something the boy with the lisp wanted.

"Look here buddy." Navi flew right up to Midos face to latch onto his nose, causing the boy to go cross-eyed. "Link here was summoned by The Great Deku Tree, rush delivery, and I'm the delivery girl, so move it or lose your nose."

The taller Kokiri made such a face, knowing well not to cross Fae, before shaking her off by shaking his head swiftly enough to dislodge his own fairy from her rest. "Well I can'th leth _him _go anywayth! There'th no way path thince thothe Baba moved in, tho for hith thafethy I can'th allow it. Hmph."

"It's true." The sleepy sounding yellow fairy gently set herself back down atop her partners hat, rolling herself into the fold to get warm, little fingers grabbing at some wayward red hair. "Deku Baba's moved in a few days ago, so anyone without a set of these bad boys can't get in there." The pixie fluttered her wings to prove her point. "The Great Deku Tree really should do something about them…" With that the yellow Fae slipped fully back inside the fold of the hat and was gone, back off to la-la land. Link was kinda of jealous really. Of the sleeping, not the wings; flying and heights in general were a no-no to him, a particular climbing experience taught him that.

"Tho thee, he doethn'th enter. You'll have to go to The Great Deku Tree to athk for hith… help thome other time." With that Mido turned his nose up to the blond and resumed leaning against the small entry way, clearly blocking him from going through.

Maybe he could trick Mido… or just run past him… or maybe he could get Saria and—

"Come on Link." Navi was tugging gently at his ear to guide him away, which the green garbed boy found himself following along, rather glad really to be away from the red-head. "I've got an idea of something we can go get. It should handle those Deku Baba no problem." The blue orb flew off ahead, leading him to the other side of the village.

The blond scratched at his ear where she had left some of her dust, ignoring the fact that he still hadn't had anything for breakfast as he followed after her.

"Hey Navi, what's a Deku Baba?"

* * *

"So _now_ can we enter?" The blue sprite huffed somewhere above him, the red-head she was addressing to busy starring the blond Kokiri down instead. It had been late this morning sometime when he had first been summoned to meet with their Guardian Spirit, but after playing a rather unfair game of 'Fetch' with Mido, it was nearing twilight.

At first Mido claimed Link wasn't going to be able to get past the Deku Baba that infested the path to their leader, so Navi had told him where the first Kokiri had once hid a sword, giving her partner permission to go borrow it from a literal hole in the wall. Which he could admit was pretty cool, a real genuine sword had been here in his home village the whole time, just waiting for someone to claim it. He'd said as much when he first picked it up, earning him a swift bash to the head from the fairy as she reminded him it was only _"for borrowing."_

Next Mido had rampaged at the blond about the sword, asking where he got it and to hand it over, so on and such, until Navi flew right up into his face and threatened him to let them pass.

He had to give it to the guy though, even with a face full of scary pixie he still refused them entrance, citing this time that Link had no way to defend himself, which surprisingly enough his partner had agreed was true. Thankfully the other boys Fae had been helpful in directing them to the shop in town, citing that one of the toughened bark shields there should do fine.

Which meant they had to go hunting for money, since the piece of wood was outrageously priced. Actually, they spent almost two hours looking around the forest for a peeling tree to make their own from, since Navi had ranted about how ridiculous the price was for thing just lying around the forest. But they never found a piece big enough to actually protect him, so Link was left with returning to the shop with some money they had found plus his findings from yesterday to buy the thing. He was a little saddened by the loss of so much money, but he could make it back if he really tried. Besides he was starting to get just as frustrated as his fairy sounded, just wanting to get in to the The Great Deku Tree and get whatever this was over with.

And at some point he had ignored Navis whining about 'Shaking a leg' and decided to return home to eat, not surprised to find Saria hadn't waited at the base of his tree all day as he had feared she might; the girl had better things to do surely.

"Well?" Link spoke as he shifted the new gear on his shoulders, still trying to get use to the baldric the shop girl had given him to hold his sword and shield on. Mido had looked smug about sending the boy on this little scavenger hunt at the beginning of the day, but now he just looked downright jealous, shooting glances between his rivals new fairy and oh-so-special sword. "You can't keep me out of there forever Mido, he needs me."

"He doethn'th _need_ you…" The other Kokiri mumbled under his breath, tapping his foot as he was often to do when annoyed. "I can'th believe thith… why _you._ You're not even one of uth…"

Links face twisted at the words but other than that he gave no response, too tired of dealing with the boy to care much about what he was saying. Unknown to Link somewhere over his shoulder stood a green haired girl outside her home, staring down the boy blocking his path with an expression most foul, seeming to wait and see if he stopped Link from entering again, assuring him she would march right over there. And as much as Mido would want that, he would pass on it if it meant a tongue lashing. Besides, he was hungry anyways, having stood here all day to harass the smaller boy.

"Alright alright, whatever, go on ahead." The elder Kokiri pouted where as the younger sighed and grinned, glad to have won at the end of the day. Mido wiped at his nose and moved off and away towards his house, Link ignoring his sunken shoulders in favor of moving into the brush to finally have his meeting with the Great Tree.

"Alright Link, like I said before, just listen to him. Only talk when he asks you something. And don't say no, whatever you do, just accept and say yes to whatever he asks." Navi settled down on the brim of his hat by his right ear, Link haven gotten used to the feel of light powder falling on his skin all the time.

"But what if he asks me to do something… something insane. Like uhm… like set the forest on fire or—"

A small hand slapped at his ear causing it to tickle, the fairy sighing warm air onto his cheek. "Don't be so childish, why would he even ask such a thing anyways? You have been reading waaay to many books buddy."

"Actually I can't read them, Saria reads them to me-EAACK!" Link fell back just in time as a large bulbous flower snatched out at him, slimy pollen filled maw snapping at him like a fly-trap plant. "What _is _**that** Navi!?"

The purple plant, realizing the treat was just out of reach, drew back slowly on its thick as an arm vine, settling down once more to appear unsuspecting; not that he would be fooled twice. Now that he was on the lookout Link could see about half a dozen of these things, all lying as still as the rest of the world around them, though the ooze dripping from their buds and the wicked thorns lining their leaves and vines gave them away. Nothing so cruel looking ever existed in the forest, at least not in the Inner Forest. These things stayed out, along with all of the other bad stuff, as they always had. And they always had because…

"The Deku Tree. Somethings wrong isn't it Navi?" Link pulled the heavy sword from its holder on his back and awkwardly removed the shield, taking a moment to secure both steady to himself. He'd never actually wielded any weapon before after all, but he had seen pictures of great warriors doing so in the story books, so it wasn't terribly difficult to mimic.

"He hasn't been feeling well. I didn't think it was this bad though." The fairy's inner light dimmed as she dove to hide in his hat, the blond just able to feel her warmth on his head and tell he was still there. "Just swipe at them really fast, or trick them into lunging then cut their heads off." Her voice was mumbled beneath the fabric but he understood, giving a curt nod before slowly approaching the first one again.

This must be the Deku Baba, Navi only having described them as carnivorous flowers; which has sounded silly at the time, crawling through some brush looking for a sword, but now he could believe that. They had no eyes nor teeth, but that didn't halt the boy from slowly slinking closer. Very slowly. In fact it was more like a shuffle really…

"Any day now. The Great Deku Tree has already been waiting since this morning, lets not hold out on him now."

Okay so he was a little… timid. Not scared, it was just a flower after all, he had nothing to be scared of. 'Hm, now that idea of burning down things didn't sound so insane…'

"Right, okay. Flower… you are going down."

"Smooth. Just get to the slashy part already. I'm sure it's easier than you're making it out to be." Navi settled down into her new home, all movement stopping and telling Link she wasn't coming back out to help until he got them where they were going. Some help she was.

"Right. Make slashy." The blond sniffled and stopped moving, trying to decide what was best to do. For one… this shield was _really_ difficult to move with. And it was only a flower after all, maybe he didn't need it out for this. Right, he'd just save it for… something… worse… which hopefully shouldn't be occurring at all.

Link put his shield back where it belonged, rotating his shoulders to try and get it to sit comfortably again. Secondly… uhm… secondly… what else could he make better? A longer sword maybe, or some fire, but neither of those things were happening. Suddenly his way cool and awesome sword was appearing a dinky dagger, the Kokiri huffing a breath of air up at his bangs, staring down the sleeping flower.

It really was getting late, and it was just a flower. He'd dealt with spiders and skull kids and tons of bugs his whole life! This time he was prepared for it, he could do this, he just had to find his courage and move along.

"_Come back and tell me what The Great Deku Tree wanted, alright?"_

Saria…

With a final shaky breath he moved forward, holding his sword at the ready with both hands, blue eyes never leaving the sprouts seeping petaled jaws. Sure enough another step in the monster lunged, purple peeling back to expose a wicked unnatural pink tongue darting right at him, the boy drawing back a few inches to avoid the sticky strike. But he held that ground, observing the strange creature while ignoring the hot toxic breath. Okay, see, not so scary, it didn't do much else then this. It wasn't smart enough to.

"Now or never." Navi's words tightened his knuckles, the boy awkwardly bringing the sword to the side like a bat, preparing for a swing. The flower snapped its jaws at the boy a few times, and the smell that came out was quickly making him lose his fear and acquire an annoyance. Link swung his sword like a stick, feeling the tug as the blade sliced through the creatures vine, the head falling to the grass with a screech.

The bulb rolled a bit, ending up at his feet, jaws still snapping though now with less speed. The blond boy kicked it away and into the bushes, only turning back to watch as the left over vine straightened out and petrified into a stick, falling to the ground with a soft clatter.

"Nice." Navi sounded unimpressed, but he was proud. His first monster kill… now he was just like all those adventurers he heard about! How cool… he had his own weapon and companion, off to save the forest. "Now for the others."

Cerulean eyes looked up at the other purple bulbs lining the path to the tree, the sight making his shoulders drop. 'Oh, right.' Link sighed as he picked up the fallen stick, shrugging as he placed it at his side in his belt like a second weapon and continued onward, feeling far more confident in taking on the Deku Baba then he had only moments ago.

One after another he cut them down, quickly picking up on the best way to handle them. By the last one he was even having a bit of fun, their predictable nature enabling him to get a better grip on his sword so it didn't hurt his hand so much.

By the time he got through with the Deku Baba and made it into the clearing the sun was setting, fireflies starting to dance around.

And Navi was fluttering about with them.

"See, it wasn't so bad." The pixie danced through the air, chasing after any of the bugs that went past. After a moment something sounding like a deep weary sigh filled the clearing, much like a small breeze, and the fairy stopped in her mid-air prances. "Oh, Great Deku Tree!" Navi flew right on over to the guardian, Link doing the same while he holstered his sword. "I'm so sorry we're late, I hope it was no trouble. See there was this boy and he made us go and get this dumb sword and shield, which Link needed but he could have gone without, but it took all day and—"

"Navi, thou has done well." The deep voice seemed to echo from all around, the Deku Trees voice echoing around the clearing. Link had been here before, several times, but being here alone was quite the privilege. He remembered his partners advice about staying quiet, only breaking the silence by cracking his knuckles, fingers not used to holding a sword. "Link, welcome. Please, listen carefully to what I am about to tell thee…"

Immediately the boy could sense the seriousness of the conversation, putting his hands at his side and paying full attention to his guardian spirit. "I'm here Great Deku Tree, and I will listen to you." Maybe it was the lighting, being twilight and all, or maybe it was the time of the year, whatever it was the tree before him appeared almost… sick. The bark had gone sort of gray and many of the leaves had fallen, and several of those Deku Baba were even in this clearing, some right beside the trees thick roots. Something was really wrong here, that he was sure of.

"Thy slumber these past moons must have been restless, plagued by nightmarish dreams…"

Link recalled fragments of his dream from last night, so similar in feel to many others he'd been having for a long while that he had a sense of déjà vu. But how could the tree know that? Did he see into their dreams? Everyones dreams?

"As the servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land, bringing with it visions to all who are sensitive to its call…Verily, thou hast felt it, am I correct?"

Evil was the cause of his dreams? Evil… truly malevolent evil, bad vibe and wicked intent evil truly existed? Link felt himself slowly nodding his head in agreement with the Deku Trees question, trying to fathom the implications of what was being said. If that was true, this was way more than flowers gone bad or a poor nights sleep.

He wondered if Saria was seeing things as well.

"Link, the time is upon thee to test thy courage, as I have been cursed."

"Cursed?!" Navi expressed what he felt at the news, fluttering down from the trees boroughs right into the face gnarled in the bark, inner light blinking in distress. "How… when?! Oh my… how how how…" The Fae fluttered off into her own tangent, the trees attention remaining on the Kokiri whos stomach just sank to his knees.

"I need of ye to break this blight, to truly put yourself to the test." Some of the trees branches sank and cracked a little, Link finally noticing how true his earlier assessment had been. Fall off from the tree lay all around, some covered in fungi and other's simply starved, leaves and branches littering the ground like it was late autumn. Only such an event never happened to The Great Deku Tree, he never needed to hibernate in the winter. And now in the midst of spring he could barely keep himself together, looking for all the world like he was suffering a terrible drought.

"If thou will take up this task, then enter my inner sanctum, prepared for the grave task ahead of you." The trees roots began to shift and unknit from each other and the ground, sliding apart to reveal an opening into the fresh earth, the scent of worms and fresh turned soil hitting him like a bucket of water.

"Link you must go!" Navi fluttered right up to his face, forcing him to cross his eyes to see her. "The Deku Tree really needs this, needs you, someone must, and you have the sword, so you must go! Oh please!" She was ranting, but now he could understand her emotion completely. Their tree was dying, their father spirit… if he died, then… so did they.

So he must go, because not to meant the end of his life and world. And only a coward wouldn't stand up for his own life.

Link was no coward.

The boy nodded once to himself before making his way across the clearing to the snarl of roots, stepping over several to get to the small gap.

"Link…"

The trees booming voice so close stopped him, the blond continuing to stare into the void before him as the demi-deity spoke.

"What ye chose to do now shall set the paths available to you for the rest of thine life. Stand or waiver, the fate of the land shall remain, but thous will be forever changed."

He stared down the hollow before him, watching at how the bark was slowly ever shifting; the tree literally breathing. It was a life, a spirit, his guardian, his home. Whether it changed nothing or everything, he wouldn't even question this decision.

Link continued forward, instantly slipping into the black and disappearing into the maw of the tree.

"He has made the just choice." The tree settled into the earth, body creaking with the shift in weight. The spirit still kept the way open, not for the boy though, but for another. "Navi, thou should follow him."

"What?" The sprite flickered up from where she had sunk into the grass, giving her fullest attention back to her creator. "But… you need me more Great Deku Tree. I can't abandon you!"

"If thee wishes to help this one, then thine will follow the Hero and help him rid me of this illness."

The fairy hovered for a moment, weighing what the tree said versus what she wanted. If she stayed out here should could comfort the tree, maybe tell the other Kokiri so that they may help. Or she could follow, and help the boy rid her guardian of this all the faster… and he was all alone in there with Goddesses knew what.

"…Alright Great Deku Tree. Please be well for when we return." The blue orb slowly floated towards the entrance, making her way inside to follow after her partner into the void.

* * *

AN: First full chapter is go. Uhm, again not gonna be updating every day like this for long, but it's a good push to the boat. So, it is technically Sheiks story, mainly, kinda. Sorta. Lot of Links too, and he launches the story, so we will start with him and focus will primarily be on him for part one cause he kinda does a lot here to set the stage for what's to come. Anyways I have issues in which I enjoy run on sentences and pluralize _everything_ because I am so smart.

Thanks to my first two reviewers there with the launch of the story, and hey if you look in my profile I've got a tumblr that will be doing some art of for this story, a cover picture for the prologue's already up there, so take a gander ladies and gents.

~IANR636~


	3. The Spiders Lair

**The Spiders Lair**

* * *

The first thing Link noticed was the smell. Something like water-soaked wood, ripe with pestilence was heavy in the air, making him need to take shallower breaths right away. And the ground, it wasn't firm as wood should be; no it sank just a slight beneath his feet, springy like the lichen beneath the shallow parts of the river. Then he spotted the random rags of webbing here and there, specifically the large blanket of it covering a section of the floor and dotting the ceiling. Spiders in the Deku Tree couldn't be a normal thing… and neither were those Deku Baba over there.

Perhaps that was what he needed to do, exterminate all of the unwanted guests. Clean house. Not so bad.

"Link, wait for me!" The chime of his new friend came over his shoulder, the tiny creature hovering in front of him, clearly taking in everything much as he was. "Oh… oh my. Link… this is bad."

Somewhere up above something skittered but he wasn't able to catch sight of what in time, only able to view some of the path along the walls that climbed upward, including some half-dead vines.

"Real bad." The Fae settled down on top of his cap, grabbing on to the folded over edge like reigns before she ordered him onward. "Okay, let's start with those Deku Baba over there and work our way up."

Link climbed inside of a rotting tree once. It had been at the edge of the Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods, stilled in its death by the winter chill. After several days of visiting ever closer to the dead thing he had gone inside, expecting it to be much like their homes in the Kokiri Village. He had been disappointed and left with a harsh lesson about life outside of the Deku Trees protective bubble that day, only finding spider webs, mushrooms, and a dead bird inside the dark hollow.

After that he had been sad for days, refusing to leave his home until Saria had come in- uninvited - and nursed him back to health with stories and sweet treats. This, however, didn't feel like it was something that could be nursed away. This was deep… his guardian dying much like that tree had; the center of his world rotting away.

The Kokiri drew his sword and moved to do what his guide commanded, quickly settling into the motions of how to kill the purple pod flowers with ease, gathering up the nuts they dropped into the pouch at his hip that once held all of his money, now perfect storage for the inedible food.

"Okay, and… I guess we go up? Just keep looking around, killing all these little things, till we find the source."

"Agreed."

It was strange how the inside of the tree actually felt like, at some point, it _had_ been some Kokiri's home, just like his own tree. There were ladders and a few stray chests lying about. Torches and even some carvings on the walls. After a while they found a slingshot and he practiced with it Link decided to ask his fairy what she knew.

"Hey Navi?" He shot another spider with a seed, their death rattle rolling right off his shoulders by now as he took another pellet from his pouch and took aim at the next. "Why is the Great Deku Tree hollow?"

"Hmm?" She stirred herself away from the nap, having grown bored with his extermination. "Hollow… oh." The pixie stretched out her wings with a tiny yawn, Link able to feel his cap shift. "The first Kokiri lived here."

"The first?" He missed the spider by a few inches, eye twitching as he grabbed for another shot, feeling the empty bag and noting that it would be the last try. "Wow… what was the first Kokiri like?"

The fairy sighed and floated off of his hat to look around again, moving up the wall he was just clearing to prepare to climb. "Well…actually… "

The forest boy fired and hit his mark, the final wall clinger falling to it's doom at his feet, curling up into a tiny shriveled body of what it once was. He rather liked the slingshot, shooting stuff and not having to deal with it up close was pretty nifty, too bad his aim wasn't so great yet; he'd used up about 20 seeds on maybe four Skulltulas and one Deku Baba already. He put the slingshot away, just simply shoving it between his belt and side right with the stick he collected from earlier, and began to scale up the vines towards Navi, finding it a little more difficult then he expected. Though that was probably because of his new weapons and shield.

Heh. He had a genuine sword. So cool.

"You know them, actually."

Link paused in his assent to look up at the Fae who was hovering near the ledge he was aiming towards. "What do you mean? It's someone in the village?" The vines under his left hand snapped and he was left swinging and flailing toward the wall for a moment, just barely catching himself before he plummeted back to the ground.

"Careful short stuff, just wait for the interview when you get to the top here, okay?" Navi huffed and then flew somewhere over the ledge, her reflective light disappearing all together, not that he noticed as he concentrated on finishing his climb without breaking any bones.

After another couple of minutes, with Link panting at the end, he lofted himself up over the ledge, flopping over onto his back with a leg still hanging over the side. He ignored the awkward way his sword and shield pressed into his back and the fairy fluttering somewhere overhead just to rest, giving his aching muscles a much needed rest. Link was an active boy, just as much as any other Kokiri really, but this was very tiring stuff. Climbing and jumping and falling and fighting bad bugs and plants… it took a lot out of a kid.

Maybe he could just roll onto his side and take a short nap. He hadn't even gotten to eat a real meal today, and he had also done all that running around for Mido earlier… granted it was needed, he was using the sword wasn't he? But still, he was starting to feel quite a bit cranky, a nap really was in order.

"Don't even think about closing those pretty blues buddy, we're not done yet."

After he shoved that fairy in a jar of course. Hmm, a jar. That sounded like a good idea actually…

"Navi, just give me like… five minutes, okay?" The green dressed boy rolled over with an ompf, only to end up on his stomach anyways thanks to the bulkier than him shield. It didn't matter really, anyways he laid right now would be good enough to sleep.

"…It's Saria, in case you were still curious."

Saria? What was her? Had they been talking about her? He didn't remember. His face scrunched up in the crook of his arm, eyes stubbornly remaining closed though he was listening. "What is?"

He could hear her and feel her warmth as the pixie settled down in front of his face on the ledge. "The first Kokiri."

Link's eyes shot wide open at the information, only for him to be forced to squint with the ball of pure light right in front of his face. "Saria? _She's _the _first_ Kokiri?" He sounded just as shocked as he could, even more so at the news of the Deku's illness; this was his lifelong friend, and while he knew she was one of the elder Kokiri he didn't know she was _the _eldest! "You're… not lying, right?"

Navi reached her hand out to tap the blond on the tip of his nose, making it feel slightly numb with her dust. "I don't lie, and that's very rude to say so." She rolled her eyes and flopped back on the ground much like he had just a moment before, blowing out a puff of blue dusty air straight up. "So no, I wasn't lying. Saria is The Great Deku Tree's first forest child. She lived right here not too long ago."

With a grunt the boy forced himself up on his palms, leaning over the sprawled Fae, now definitely awake and interested. "Why did she never tell me? Does anyone know? Why isn't she here now?"

Navi rolled over onto her stomach and curled up, twitching her wings from the boy breathing down on her. "I don't know, I don't think so, and she's not here right _now_ because of this curse, obviously." The blue girl yawned and stopped her twitching. "Now if you're gonna sleep so am I."

He ignored the fairy in favor of leaning back on his elbows, thinking over the news. Saria was… well, she always had been the one they looked to. Even if Mido declared himself their unofficial leader, and Fado was the only one with connection to the outside world, Saria was the one they all truly turned to. She knew everything about their world, remembered everyones birthday and knew exactly what to do in any situation.

Link blew a puff of air up at his bangs; so why hadn't the tree called on her? He must trust and rely on her more than anyone, after all she had lived in here. Why him, the littlest one of them and not the girl who had been here since… the beginning?

"No, I don't think I can now." He sniffled as he pushed himself into fully sitting up, rubbing at his shoulders the the imprint he could feel the new equipment leaving on his skin. The sooner he got done helping the tree out here he could go and talk with Saria. He wanted to know all about this thing she had kept hidden. After all, she had been there to see everything. All of them arrive, the village being built, the Deku Tree growing… this… this was big.

Why had she been hiding this anyways?

Link looked over at the sleeping Fae, understanding her tire completely. He gently scooped her up and lifted off his cap, slipping her carefully inside before replacing it on his head. He would continue on for now and then he could rest later. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

The boy stood with a stretch and tapping his toes moved over to another ledge, carefully leaning as he peeked over the edge.

Huh, there's water way down there…

'I wonder…'

* * *

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!"

Navi was bouncing around like she was on fire, though she was actually dripping wet, fury alighting her glow to pulse like Link's own racing heartbeat.

"HOW… HOW… HOW RECKLESS! AND STUPID! AND YOU ALMOST GOT ME KILLED!"

After all, they had just dived from several landings up, ending up in a puddle of ground water that the tree feed from, after having fallen through some webbing of course. "We're alive aren't we?" The boy stood on shaky legs to move over to a ledge of rock, pulling himself up to sit over the side. He noticed his hat floating just by his leg so he hooded his boot under it and lifted it up and over, snatching it up in his hands to ring out and dry.

"WE… WE?! YOU! YOU ARE… ARGH!" The orb of light that was swiftly becoming a constant beacon in his life fluttered off somewhere, he didn't know where, but he remained at the side of the pool, slowly drying himself off from his plunge.

"It worked didn't it?" He asked himself as he tugged off his boots, emptying the water from them like cups. Yeah, it worked, he was alive, and well, and so was she. A little shaken, but that was to be expected wasn't it? Link set his boots aside and pulled his feet from the water, deciding to not bother with the sword and shield as there wasn't any sunlight around to help dry them with anyways. All that was left was his tunic then, so the blond stood only to have his legs buckle beneath him and fall right back down in the wet spot he left.

His heart was still beating like a humming birds and even though he just took a dip in that pool he felt really warm. Also it was kind of difficult to catch his breath, though the air felt cool and fine.

"You're in shock." His partner fluttered back into his world to settle on the tips of one of his drying boots, giving a shuttered sigh as she fluffed her wings. He watched her look up at him, just glad to have her back and some sort of advice about this thing. He'd never been in shock before, besides the kind when what the girls called 'a particularly juicy piece of gossip' came up. "Just stay here for a moment. And what made you decide to do _that_ anyways?"

Link hunched over himself where he sat and rubbed at his arm, trying to will the goose bumps away. "It was all I could think of. Up there I could see through the spider web and there was the puddle and I… I dunno I guess it was the right thing. There was nowhere else to go up there anyways." He sniffled and gave the fairy an apologetic look, blowing air up at his bangs only for them to remain stuck to his forehead from the water.

"Well…" The blue pixie grabbed at one of her antenna, trying to pull any remaining water out from the appendages though there was none left to be had. Lucky bugger was practically already dry, unlike him who was gonna be soaked for a while. "I looked around, and there's a few places to go, so probably for the best."

—

He was hungry, and tired, and had just taken a pretty good dive off from somewhere fairly hight, but even so Link pressed on, standing up to ring out his tunic (ignoring Navi's comments about decency and pants) and sliding into his boots he moved on. The caves down here were less home-like, more feeling like they had been carved by roots growing and forcing the rock and dirt aside. Which was strange, since there was roots here and there, but none big enough to have ever carved these tunnels.

"So Navi, what about these caves? How did these get here?" He slashed at another Keese, ignoring the bit of blood left on his sword to press forward. With plants there was none and the spiders he took out with his seeds, so this was the first thing he really felt like he was 'killing'. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, considering each one tried to scratch his eyes out, but it didn't feel as cool as when he heard of the adventurers from stories slaying monsters.

"Must I educate you on _everything_? Are all Kokiri this dimwitted before they get their Fae's?" Link looked up at her with a pout, melting her annoyance away. She sighed. "The Great Deku Tree you know now wasn't the first. As times and the world changes eventually a new tree is born to reflect that, so it may adapt to those changes and better take care of its forest."

Huh, so his Great Deku might not be as old as he always thought. So, wouldn't there be other Kokiri around from the previous trees? "Navi—"

"I know what you're going to ask and I don't know. I was made just as you were by this Deku Tree. If the previous Deku Tree made any spirits or otherwise, they aren't around now."

They passed through the room and into another, ears instantly assaulted by the chaffing of wood against rock as a spiked log rolled back and forth across a pool of water. "Aw, I just was getting dry too." Link leaned over the edge to peer into the water, Navi pointing out the hole below that was blocked by roots and debris, looked like he'd have to drain the water. While getting past that log… how did this even happen anyways? Was someone down here or what? "So, does that mean they died with the last tree?"

Navi hovered as he began to remove his boots, throwing them over the pool to the other side. "That wouldn't make sense since our lives are tied to the forest, not The Deku Tree. But, I bet the Unifying War had something to do with it." Link handed her his hat as well before slipping into the water, only to resurface a moment later.

"Wait, what's the Unifying War?"

"Just go clear the rot, I'll give you more history lessons later, so move it." She floated with the hat off to the other side, waiting for the boy by his boots as he dived below.

He wasn't very good at holding his breath, in fact Link hardly ever went swimming, so he could only just make it to the bottom to see the problem. The hole was indeed blocked by a bunch of muck, the very same that was floating at the top of the water and sludged along the bottom. If he pushed it through it would clear, but for how long…

He resurfaced again a moment later, gasping for air even though he'd only been down there a few seconds. Some leaves were stuck to his head and he peeled them off, pouting over at his dry and lounging fairy. "It's all this dead plant stuff blocking it, I'll try pushing it through." He dived back down again, completely missing the way Navi flicked the air to motion him on his way. The blond made quick work of clearing the blockage, grabbing onto the wall to keep himself below and shoving his foot into the muck to push it through, the water instantly beginning to swirl and pull him down. He only need wait a moment before the water dropped below his own level, gasping yet again for the precious air.

"We should work on your lungs. Cause they suck."

He ignored the fairy to move over to the other side of the pool, head passing safely below the problem as he scaled up the other sides ledge, hefting himself over and completely out of the water. He felt gross, covered in all the dead decaying plant parts from the water, but after touching that first bit from his head with his hands he realized how slimy it was and left it be, only shaking off what he could like a wild dog.

"Hey!" Navi was smacked with a small bit of sludge, growling as best her voice would allow as she flicked it off her wings. "First thing when we get out of here mister, you're getting a bath."

"Aww, but I washed last week." Link quickly stuck his feet back over the ledge to wash off his toes from pushing at the sludge, wiggling them in the water as he looked over at the blue pixie. "Maybe just a change of clothes?"

"No way, you're washing, that's final. Honestly, how does Saria even put up with you?" Navi floated up off the boots as the boy grabbed for them to slip on, handing over his hat too once he was finished. At least that was clean so she could still rest on it. "Ready then?"

* * *

"OW! STOP HITTING ME!" Link ducked behind his shield and squatted, trying to hide most of himself as best he could against the assault of Deku nuts being spit his way. This had happened once before, in a room not far back, but there had only been one Deku Scrub that time, not three.

"Stop cowering and deal with them!" Navi jingled from somewhere high above (where she was safe of course), watching as the green garbed boys behind stuck out a little too much and it got pegged with a perfect strike.

"OW!" Link shrunk in on himself more after the wayward hit, ignoring the urge to rub the sore spot on his butt. The earlier room, the earlier Scrub… Link had learned how to defeat him by accident really. He was hiding behind his shield, just like now, when one of the seeds deflected back to smack the Scrub right in its face, ending that little assault too. And then the little guy had said something… something about his brothers and sister up ahead… but what was it…

"You know this is really loud and annoying!" The fairy had her hands clasped over her ears, each triple strike of the nuts causing her headache to pound with a fury. She couldn't stand this much longer.

Numbers…he was sure it had been numbers now. But the blond had never been very good with those, same as his reading, though Saria had tried. He could count up to fifty, but any math or remembering larger numbers was always a failed experiment with him. Why did numbers have to become part of this anyways? This was supposed to be about fighting the bad guys and saving the day, not a stupid math test! "Hey! Navi!"

"TWENTY THREE IS NUMBER ONE! FOR GODDESSES SAKE LINK."

"Oh… hey you're right! Thanks!" It rang true to his memory, now able to place the saying with the earlier Scrub. Blue eyes carefully peeked over the top of the shield, covering them with his hand just in case, as he got a good look at the little jerks. One, two, and three. Okay, they weren't labeled, so… uhm…hmm. "Hey Navi…"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS." She sounded so pissed as she floated off to hover over to the middle Deku Scrub, to it's complete obliviousness, the orb bouncing up and down like an obvious beacon.

"Heh, right." Link shifted himself around on the ground and aimed the large piece of bark in his hand down the center, trying to deflect the snapping seeds back from one of their points of origin. After only a moment he had success, one strike from one of the others bouncing back to smack the thing right in it's eye, a whimpered cry all he got in response before it ducked back into its home. "Bullseye!"

Navi seemed far less amused than he did, making a bee line to hover over the next one to the far right. This time it was a bit more tricky to deflect, since more of his side was exposed to the other, but he only was struck twice before his aim struck true, smacking this Scrub right back in its mouth. He didn't need to wait for the fairy to show him to the last assailant, instantly redirecting himself to perfectly block its attacks, deflecting back one of its own strikes after only two misses. With the last cry all three Deku Scrubs emerged, looking as sad as he'd ever seen one. Not that that was such a big deal, these things were rather whiny in his forest home too.

"Okay okay! We give! We give!" The final Scrub he had taken out was trembling and crying, much the same as the other two, but at least she had the nerve to speak to him first.

"How did he even know our secret?!" The boy on the opposite end stomped the ground in its fit.

"How irritating!" The middle child shook its leafy body around in a huff until Navi fluttered from nowhere to bop it on the head, shushing it immediately.

"So what should we do?" The one right before him spoke again, but Link was getting the idea that they were talking through him and not at him.

"We should tell him a secret!" The brother on the other end jumped, having seemingly forgotten about his injury in the apparent excitement, not that the Kokiri was feeling any.

"What!? No way!" The Scrub in the middle shook his head rapidly, earning him another pop from the fairy who was nearing her breaking point. "I mean— What secret?"

"I know I know!" The girl before him batted her eyes like she was trying to be cute, swinging her body back and forth. "I'll tell you a secret about Queenie~!"

"No way!"

"You'll get us in trouble!"

"Whose Queenie and why should we care?" Navi finally abandoned abusing the middle Scrub to perch on Link's shoulder, peering down at the bouncing girl before them; not that it was easy to tell, the only way he knew was because of her voice honestly, it was way to whiny to be a boys. Hopefully.

"You'll see soon enough, if you plan to keep going that is." Her brothers returned to their homes in the ground but she remained continuing to sway to some melody only she could hear. "In order to finish off Queenie Gohma, smack her right in the eye while she's stunned!"

The information meant little to Link, so he looked over at the blue sprite on his shoulder to see if she got anything from it.

"Alright, and how do we stun this 'Queenie'?" The fairy's antennae twitched, a clear sign to her partner that she was at a short end here.

"I have no clue! Haha, byebye~!" With that the Deku Scrub dived back below the pile of leaves into her home, leaving a confused Kokiri and an equally annoyed Fairy.

* * *

"Uh.. Navi?"

"Yeah Link?"

"What are those?"

"You mean the fuzzy spider thingies with the huge gooey eye?"

"Yeah."

"…Fuzzy spiders thingies with huge gooey eyes."

"…Thanks."

There was a half a dozen of them, all scurrying across the floor and closing in on him, his shield and sword already at the ready. He had been halfway into the room before they began dropping from the ceiling, startling both himself and his partner. They were bigger than any bug he had ever seen, twitchy limbs covered with thick hairs and a lone bright green eyeball with a red pupil, all of this moving towards him with terrifying speed considering their size.

"I think I liked to Deku Baba more." He slashed out at the group but none of them fell, keeping on him as he backed up, a constant pack closing in.

"Yeah well… aim for the eyes, those big things gotta be a weak point." Navi fluttered over to just above the spiders, all of them pausing for a moment to look up at her and try in vain to reach. "Now Link!"

The blond lunged forward, now able to handle the sword one-handed as he swiped at their eyes, feeling his blade cleave right through soft tissue. Two spiders went down with little screams while the remaining four turned on him once again.

He was smiling as he continued to bait them, feeling smug at having found their weakness. They were fast, and creepy, but easy targets with those big eyes. Once he got a handle on it these little buggers would be just as easy as the Deku Baba and Keese.

"Don't get cocky yet! When they're all upside-down and twitching then you can celebrate!" Navi tried to continue distracting them by flying low, but they weren't taking the decoy for more than a second in passing, continuing to pursue him across the room.

Link continued to swing out at the group, though most of his swings missed or hit armored limbs, after a few minutes he was down to one and feeling a little winded from the dance. With one final angry slash he stabbed the last bug straight through its eye, squinting in the face of the thing as it gave its death rattle. He was exhausted and thirsty and hungry and sticky and just plain fed-up with this. He felt miles from home even though he was right next to it, and he just wanted this to end. Pulling back his sword he didn't even bother to re-sheath it, dropping down the ground with a weary sigh to sit and rest.

He sniffled back his frustrated tears, just closing his eyes and concentrating on breathing past the stench that had clung to him of dead plants and bugs. Navi could sense his need for a moment and was quiet, floating over to rest on his hand still holding the sword in a white knuckle grip.

"Hey… next time, we'll prepare better, okay? Snacks and water and… and no forcing you into gross water, okay?"

He wanted to wipe at his nose but his hands felt to gross, instead just having to snort to clear his airways. "Why would there be a nest time?" His voice was quiet and shaky, the small boy of ten more exhausted then he had ever been. When ever he had worn himself out Saria carried him home on her back, like a piglet she always said, and he had been content with that. But she wasn't around now, only Navi, and the fairy could hardly hold up Link's hat when need be, he doubted she could carry him anywhere even on a good day.

"Well… isn't this what you always wanted? To go on an adventure? That's what all kids want isn't it?" Navi patted him on the wrist, reminding his fingers to loosed up on the hilt and blood circulation back into his hand.

An adventure… yeah, ever since he had heard the first tale from Saria he had dreams about being brave and bold just like the men and women in those stories. Slaying dragons and rescuing damsels in distress, it seemed so cool. And then when he had heard about the outside world, places with stone walls and fire and fish people, he had never stopped dreaming about the world beyond his forest home. But now… he still liked the idea, the dream, but it was a little different now.

For one, he would want his new fairy along, because being alone at this would be torture. He would also bring a whole bag of food, and water, clean clothes for sure. Stuff to clean his sword off with, cause he kept using his tunic. And… and…

"I wish we knew what to look for, some idea would at least be nice."

And information. Cause it _would_ be nice to know what they were here for, to be hopefully knowing they would be done soon. As it stood now they had no idea how much further they had to go, and then they would have to come all the way back. He had a map, and Navi could read it sure, but still, to his tired legs it sounded like a long ways to go even if it was a doorway just paces away.

"Cake."

"Huh?" Blue eyes opened to look over at the small sprite, giving her a questioning look.

"I hear they have something called cake out in Hyrule." The fairy pulled at her antennae as she spoke, Link discovering that petting the moth-like appendages was how she comforted herself. "I have a sweet tooth, and I hear that people called bakers make sweets, and they make something called cake, which is the best of all. I always wanted to try some." Navi looked up at the blond Kokiri boy, smiling at the idea. "Do you think we could ask the trades girl in the village if she could get the Skull Kids to bring us some? As a treat for doing all this?"

Link smiled down at his partner and new friend, liking the sound of the idea himself. He'd had cookies from the outside world before, and if there was something better, this cake thing, then he wanted in on it too. "Yeah, I think some cake is in order." The idea of a sweet reward rejuvenated him, so even though he yawned the boy gripped his blade once again and stood. "So, let's get to that cake then."

Navi fluttered onto the others hat, feeling a little better about the whole situation at the sweet prospect. "Yeah, lets."

* * *

"But it's another hole in the ground." Link tapped at the webbing with his foot, only to regret it a moment later when his boot became stuck. He was way to tried to deal with this, dropping to the ground and removing his foot from the shoe to begin to pull it from the sticky webbing with his hands.

"Yeah, well, it's all we got." Navi clung to the hilt of the sword like it was a tree, hugging around it and leaning her head against the cool side.

He finally pulled his boot free and glared at the webbing as he slipped it back on, just able to see past it to the poorly lit bottom. "I don't think there's much water down there."

"Belly flop then." The fairy closed her eyes and sighed, just as weary as he was with this whole thing. It felt like they'd been down here for hours, but without any sunlight it was impossible to tell. For all she knew it could have been days. Was anyone looking for Link? The Deku Tree wondering if they were alright down here? Could he feel them destroying the baddies? Was his health improving? Were they even making any difference at all?

"Belly flop… right." Link stood up on achy legs, slumping backwards a bit to look around. "Uhm…" He was way too tired to problem solve this himself, but that what the Fae was for. "How do I get past the web then."

Navi looked around as Link yawned, trying to find something to help them past this problem. "Well, with the first web you jumped from really high." Look around there wasn't much headroom, so no where to jump from. "Then the second web that blocked the path, well… your shield." The second web had been covering an entire pathway, and though at first Link had tried to run straight through it, Navi had put a stop to that and made him take it down with his shield instead, ultimately getting it stuck in a ball of the sticky web. At least it had cleared enough of a space for the Kokiri boy to slip through. But how were they going to deal with this?

"Maybe if I just…" Navi looked over just as her forest child was swinging his arms one final time to leap right into the middle of the web, landing standing up right in the middle. For a moment he nearly lost balance, but after a few moments he righted himself, smiling over at her as he bounced slightly. "Hey, kinda fun."

"Smooth. Now you're stuck out there! What am I gonna do now?" She bobbed over to his ear to flick it, sighing wearily before settling down on his hat. "So, what next."

Link was too busy taking a break from all the trouble to have some fun, bouncing on the thick webbing, up and down more and more. He always wanted to do this but the beds back home were too flat, filled only with wood chips and dried moss. Not very conductive to bouncing. Or sleeping for that matter, sometimes he slept on the grass just to get a good nights rest. "I dunno, but this is fun."

The fairy was clinging on to his hat more than usual now, not enjoying being tossed up and down in the slightest. "Well great, good, at least one of us is having a good time!" The fairy balled up her fists and began to wail of the boys head, uncaring about how much he felt it. She was too cranky to be playing games right now, she wanted out and done and this little kid was keeping her here by playing on the damn spider web like it was a toy!

"Ow OW! Hey!" Link stopped playing and began to swat back at the fairy, trying to stop her from assaulting him. "Stop it!" He was moving more now that he was fighting the Fae off, the bounces becoming more unstable and violent. "What did I do?!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" The fairy's light flickered rapidly with her anger, tiny arms flailing as she continued her assault. "YOU HAD TO JUMP ON THE STUPID WEB AND NOT GIVE THE SWORD TO MIDO SO _HE_ COULD DO THIS. I COULD HAVE HAD CAKE BY NOW IF NOT FOR YOU!"

"What!? That doesn't even make sense!" Link didn't want to hurt her but he was quickly getting angry; it wasn't fair that she was so small, he couldn't actually fight back. Plus she was a girl, this was just completely to her advantage. "Stop it Navi! I'm sorry!"

"Oh you'll be sorry alright!"

Something snapped. And then snapped again. The webbing having a little more give as his body bounced.

"No wait, Navi! I'm serious, stop! Somethings wrong!"

"Yes! Something _is _wrong! Me being sent to get _you_! How could you of all the Kokiri honestly have been asked to do this!" She gave a particularly hard whomp to his eye, ignoring the feeling of immediate guilt to continue her tirade. "Why not Saria? Or Fado? Or even that annoying red-head? Why YOU?"

Link was holding his eye while it watered from the tiny sting, not even noticing anymore as the web beneath him continued to give. "How should I know?! I don't get why I got _you_ either!"

The blue fairy stopped her fit at the words, flying away after a moment to get off the bouncing ride and cool down. This was ridiculous. For all they knew there could be nothing down there. Or a whole new floor of evil things and stupid obstacles. …She would rather the room of nothing, maybe she could convince the Mr. Whiny Brat over there to take a nap so she could too. Honestly it was the only good thing that could happen right about now.

"That was really mean ya know?" Link pouted over at the blue orb though she didn't turn around to look at him, rendering his expression pointless. He looked down at his feet, noticing that there was less webbing clinging to the sides than before, and several strands hanging down where there wasn't any before. "Uhm, Navi?"

"No, I'm not dealing with you right now. Just keep bouncing or whatever." She was still annoyed, staring at herself in the pool of water and the top of the boys reflection.

'Maybe it's still safe.' He gave a few test bounces again and the webbing gave more, dropping him a few inches lower. 'Nope.' "Navi, can we just forget about the fight and you help me out here?"

"No, you got yourself stuck out there, figure it out yourself."

The blond looked down at the webbing, not feeling his boots give from the sticky white even when he tried to pull them away. Maybe he could just… bounce out of his boots and then pull them off the web like before. Link began to bounce once again, though this time he was having less fun then before and only trying to hop free.

"See, you're fine." She was watching his reflection in the water as he bounced in and out of view, giving her a headache. How could he possibly be enjoying himself when they were stuck in this horrible place? Him literally stuck. Maybe she should fly back up and go get help. She would have to apologize to the Great Deku Tree, but it was better then being stuck here forever. Who should she get then… that Mido kid was out. He tried to act all cool, but Navi could tell he was as yellow bellied as a guppy. Saria? Maybe, but he wouldn't want to put her in jeopardy, she was rather important to the forest and the Great Deku Tree. Fado? She was a resourceful girl, with all kinds of outside gadgets, she might be able to come down here and have just the right tool to get Link out of this mess. "Okay, think I have an idea."

There was no response from her partner, or a reflection at all. "You don't have to give me the silent treatment, that's childish ya know?" Still nothing, so with a huff the fairy turned. "I'm sorry alri— Link?"

Nothing. No one was there. Just herself and the hanging dripping roots and the hole in the ground.

The hole! "LINK!"

Navi flew over to the now opened gap in the floor, staring down the darkened tunnel in shocked silence, trying to peer into the bottom. He must have fallen in, broken the web with his stupid bouncing! Oh… what to do what to do…

"I'm coming Link! Don't move!" The fairy quickly dived down into the dark cave, her own light guiding the way.

* * *

The moment the web had completely given he had ducked down into a ball, closing his eyes and waiting for the fall to end. In a corner of his mind he had known it might happen, but he'd held out hope that he could bounce off of the web in time. One free fall had been enough the first time, but this time it was so much worse since he hadn't been able to see to the bottom, unknowing of the place that awaited him.

Luckily he was tangled in the still sticky webbing, the ends catching on the wall just before the bottom to stop his plummeted fall. He was snagged and rolled down the fraying web toward the ground, only falling from the ends a few feet. He didn't even realize how lucky he was, just laying there with his eyes closed, trying not to cry.

"I'm coming Link! Don't move!"

The voice was echoing down at him but familiar, the Kokiri boy truly thankful to have her around now more than any point before. After only a few seconds the pain began to kick in, every bone in his body feeling like it was bruised from his fall. His head had avoided smacking into the hard ground, thankfully, but his left knee hadn't been so lucky, and though he was most certainly lying in a shallow pool of water, the warm liquid he could feel running down his shin was most definitely blood. After all the hours down here Link had acquired his fair share of bruises and scraps, the worst to this point being a particularly nasty one on his elbow that kept reopening every time he needed to move his arm; but he was sure without even need look that this was way worse.

"Oh, Link! Are you alright? Your leg!"

He could see Navi's bright light behind his closed lids, comforting him some more even though all he wanted right now was a dark room to sleep in. But now probably wasn't the best time for that, he hadn't even looked around yet to make sure it was safe, and then he had to check on himself. He'd never been quite so busted up as he was now, so he was more than a little worried about his health right now.

"Link, I know you're awake, open your eyes. It's not _so_ bad."

Blue eyes reluctantly peeled open, squinting up at the dimly lit hole he'd fallen from and the dark world they found. The smack of hitting the bottom was still resounding through him but he moved to sit up, wanting to see the damage done. Both of his knees were dirty from the time they had been here, but now one was a bloody mess, the sight alone making him feel sick. It wasn't hurting as bad as he thought it should, but it looked bad enough that he didn't want to move it. "What do I do?"

The Fae hovered just over his injury, looking it over in deep thought. They didn't have any way to deal with this; while the minor scraps of before could be ignored for now, this was much more severe. Nothing seemed broken or out of place, but it was bleeding enough to be worry some, and it must hurt a great deal. And it would hurt even worse once he would try to stand. "I dunno Link, it's not horrible, but it's not too good either."

"Great." He sniffled and fell back to plop in the thin water, staring up at the nearly pitch black ceiling to try and not let the pricks of tears at the corner of his eyes fall. In the stories the adventurers never cried, and rarely ever got injured. If they did they were just able to magically carry on as if nothing happened, though granted most of them had potions or healing powers of some sort. Him? He was all banged up, tired and starving and now he was stuck. Down in a great big dark hole beneath a very sick and heavy tree who was relying on him to save his life. This wasn't how an adventure was supposed to go, not this wrong, this wasn't anything like the stories from the books.

Navi didn't want to touch the wound for fear of causing him anymore pain then he was probably already in, only left to stare at it and curse the fact that she wasn't a healer. Healers were the most common of Fae, as plentiful as bugs if one looked in the right place and able to patch up most any wound. But no, Navi had wanted to be different than her sisters, special, and had opted to become a Guardian Fae.

Seemed like a rather dumb choice with the standing of things.

"Maybe I should go get help. I'm sure The Great Deku Tree will understand, you've done so much for him already after all."

Maybe she was right. She could go get Saria and the green haired girl could comfort him and patch him up and carry him out of here. They could send Mido down here to deal with the rest of this, because honestly Mido deserved to actually deal with something serious like this, get his butt kicked and all. Then Saria could take him to his bed, patch him up, kiss his hurts to make them go away faster, and feed him her hazelnut soup he loved so much. And then read a story to him, not about adventures, but about the world beyond the forest keep and all the people with it.

It would be nice. The only problem was he would have to stay and wait down here. Alone. In the dark.

With whatever that was scurrying on the ceiling up there.

"So I'll go now and get help, okay?" The fairy fluttered in front of his face, blinding him to whatever else had been in his view up above. But goosebumps were already rising on his skin, gut instincts telling him to not ignore this.

"What's that up there?" He lifted his arm to point past the Fae, hoping she could she what he no longer could. After his partner flew a bit back to look up something familiar and green flashed up above before disappearing again, making his stomach flip.

Navi stopped moving, hovering in the air very still as some loose rocks and dirty from above fell to the ground a bit aways. "Link. You might want to get up now."

Oh no. Not good. This couldn't be good at all. Nope, never, not in a million years. The blond rolled to sit up again, ignoring his muscles which were still quivering from the impact to lean over on his side to look up, trying to spot what his partner clearly could. "What is it?"

Up above something was clearly shifting around now, sounding like something big and unwelcome. Then again they were the ones who dropped in, so they were probably the unwelcome ones. Either way it spelled trouble. "Not good." She made a swift perch of the boys hat, giving him a light like a lamp so he could see around himself a bit better. "Can you move?"

Link turned to look at his leg, some of the blood now blooming in the water all around him. He curled his toes, proving that the leg should still be usable, before he began to push himself to stand. It wasn't easy, he had to use the wall the get up at all, but once he was up it wasn't so bad, if not just a bit shaky.

"Remember those fuzzy spider thingies with the huge gooey eye?"

He felt his stomach drop as he looked back up at the ceiling, beginning to slide along the wall and out of the light from the hole he had fallen down, hoping to disappear into the shadows. "Yeah huh."

"Right. Think of those." The eye up above flashed open again to see the boy moving before closing once more, becoming nearly invisible on the rocks. "Only bigger."

Bigger? How much bigger? "Define bigger." Those other spiders had been big enough, more so than the Skulltulas, how much larger could these things get?

"Well…" It was moving in, and Link was unaware as he slinked along the wall. She would have to help him here, guide him, because now they had no choice. She couldn't leave to get help, she couldn't leave him. And the spider probably wouldn't wait around and have a tea party. "Let's just say, I think we're about to meet Queenie."

At the name something large dropped from above, falling right in front of him and stopping his heart. Even through the dull lighting of the large cave room it was clear. A freakishly large spider stood not paces away, an eye bigger than his head rolled around before looking straight down at him, making him feel like the real insect in the situation. It had strange armor plated shells all along it's body shiny and reflecting his fairies light, and it's mouth was oozing something green and luminescent, making him swallow thickly at the smell and sight. This thing, this Queen Gohma, was at least three times as tall as himself, if not more so, and it was as big around as his little home. How was he supposed to face something like _this_?!

"MOVE!" Navi's shrill plea got his feet moving instantly, even if he had to drag his leg to do so he hobbled away from the spider beast just as a large pointed arm swiped out for where he had just stood. It was slow, okay, that was good, but so was he now, so that took away that advantage. The spider shrieked at him, an awkward and painful sounding cry, before it moved to scale up one of the columns of dripping rock nearby.

"What do I do?!" Link took the beasts absence to draw his sword, doing his best to ignore his protesting body and keep his eyes on the ceiling for an eye to open. He remembered the Deku Scrubs advice, to get her eye, just like all those little spiders. But he had to be able to get to her to do that, and that was going to be a _big _problem.

"I'm thinking, hold on." Navi hovered somewhere up ahead, just enough lighting for him to make out as several large shapes dropped to the ground. All at once a dozen smaller eyes, though no less gross and freakish, opened and rolled to zero in one him, several sets of legs beginning to skitter across the floor. "Um, but, deal with those first." She looked up at the spider on the ceiling, watching the eye as it watched the boy below. "I'll keep an eye on her!" Navi fluttered up and away, leaving her wounded partner alone to deal with the babies.

"Right, okay. I can do this, no problem." He knew how to deal with these ones, and they were hardly anything in the face of the mother, but being injured meant he couldn't just keep moving back as they came at him, striking out until all of them had fallen. Links wish now, for the first time since this whole thing started, that he had his shield. Sure it had proved invaluable during the Deku Scrub thing, and had helped clear some of that webbing, but this seemed so much more of it's purpose as the tiny hoard of spiders closed in.

The first and bravest of the group, or maybe the quickest, lunged out at him first and he was instant to return to lunge, missing the things eye and only bating it away. The eyes, he needed to aim for the eyes, there was little room for missing right now. He slid back as best he could, trusting Navi to keep watch over the Queen as he concentrated on these ones, swinging out again to give himself more space. Two more darted forward at once, the blond taking only a fraction of a second to aim for a vivid green eye as he swiped out with his sword, just as the blade entered the gooey soft tissue he felt something tiny and sharp tear through his arm.

The blond drew back and so did the hoard, staring in shock at their fallen brother while he assessed his damage. A sharp talon had ripped into his other arm, tearing a two inch gash from his elbow downward. It began to drip blood down his arm right away but he had to ignore it, keeping the arm folded in at his chest and preparing for the second assault. One down, several to go.

Navi watched both the Gohma above and the little ones fighting below, flashing as she watched him take strike after strike from the tiny claws. He was whittling down their numbers but at the same time he kept taking hits, green tunic and dirty skin quickly taking on a darker hue. This wasn't good, even if the Queen continued to wait for the blond to finish he still had to face her, and it just wasn't fair. Link was exhausted and injured, he was in no way at his best to deal with any of this! Plus he had no training what so ever, he was just some ten year old Kokiri child forced to do battle with a giant spider! How could this have even been considered?! What was the Deku Tree thinking? Honestly!

He cried out as he struck the final spider across the eye, sneering as the green blood landed on some of his face. He had several more cuts than just a few minutes ago, muscles shaking from the numerous strikes and the fall from earlier, but all of the babies lay vanquished. His scraped up knuckles wanted to drop the sword but he refused his body's request, looking up and spotting his fairy's light instantly hovering near the Queen. "NOW WHAT?!" His voice was hoarse and he sounded like he was whining, but he was ready to deal with her, just hoping it was easier than the stories made it sound to fight the big bad monsters.

"They eye!" She bounced in the air around the beast, ignoring it's occasional swing and miss to tag her. "Just like them, hit the eye!"

But… how… Oh! It had been several hours since he even touched the slingshot, but his hands easily grabbed at it from his back, along with a Deku nut from his pouch. He pulled back the sling with trembling hands, taking aim at the large eye in the sky. Maybe just one shot would do it, like the one strike at the little ones. 'Please let this hit, one shot take down.' He released the shot, never moving from the launch position to watch it fly.

Navi barely saw the seed as it flew past, only hearing the spider cry out at the pellet hit true to it's mark. She turned to watch as the beast tried to flail away the pain, eye rolling around in it's head as it let go of the ceiling and began to plummet to the floor. "Now Link! Attack the eye with your sword!"

He began to move as the large body fell, dropping the slingshot to the ground as he went, drawing his sword again and moving in. The Queen landed heavily towards the middle of the floor, irritated green eye rolling around in her head, the shot having done little more than stunned.

"_In order to finish off Queenie Gohma, smack her right in the eye while she's stunned!"_

This was his chance, he could finish this now. Link ignored his screaming leg and protesting muscles to hobble over all the quicker, eager to be done with the fight. The spiders limbs were twitching spastic as he stepped up to its face, heavy breaths passing between rows of tiny teeth.

"Time to end this." Without a spark of remorse on his face Link raised the sword in both hands, giving a war cry as he plunged it down, straight into the Queens eye.

An ear piercing scream had both himself and his fairy curling in on themselves, sword released from his grip, the spider finding strength and coordination in its limbs once again to begin flailing around and backing up, scaling backwards up one of the columns as if to get away from the pain. But the sword stayed lodged in its head, moving around as it swiveled it's eye in distress, trying in vain to dislodge the foreign object.

His fairy floated down to his side as they both watched the final death rattles of the spider beast, inhuman screams rattling around the cave and piercing through their skulls. After a few more moments she dropped from up high once more, landing on her back with a heavy splat.

She twitched for several more moments before her legs began to shrivel in on the body, curling her into a tight ball. For a moment more the eye looked right at him, even though it couldn't possibly see him past the sword, but then it slipped closed. Queen Gohma lay dead, Link had defeated his first true enemy.

After a few second of heavy breathing the boy fell on his behind with an ompf, shivering as the events that just unfolded caught up to him.

"Link… you did it!"

He watched dazed as the spider began to break into pieces at all of its sections, legs falling into crumbling segments on the ground. His sword slowly slid out of the eye to clatter to the ground, but he could care less about retrieving it right now. Glancing around he didn't see anyway to go, and he knew he couldn't possibly climb back up from where he fell, not on this leg. "Navi?"

The fairy was watching in amazement as the one she was assuming was 'Queenie' continued to cave in on itself, quickly decaying into nothing more than bits and pieces on the ground. "Yeah Link?"

As interesting as the decaying process was he felt himself falling back on the ground, arms spread in exhaustion. "Wake me up when help arrives." Then he closed his eyes and tuned out the fairy's prodding to try and bring him back awake; because honestly, didn't he deserve this nap?

Just before he passed out something bright and blue glowed behind his eyes, reminding him of Navi's light. Yeah, as long as she was around, he would be fine. His adventure was over, and Link could finally rest.

* * *

**"True strength is keeping everything together, when everyone expects you to fall apart."**

**-Unknown**

* * *

AN: So. First dungeon. Complete. I like how I wrote it, but I would like to know what you all think too. To the reviewer who commented on spelling last chapter, yeah, I forget to do spell check cause I get so excited to post, I'll try not to let it happen again. And missed my update yesterday cause I ended up pulling a 15 hour day at my job, and with commute time... well, you get the idea.

I wish I had friends, let alone ones that knew about Zelda, so I could fangirl with them. For now, forever alone.

~IANR636~


	4. Dreamscape

**Dreamscape**

* * *

Music… the tones of a flute of some sort, drifting in from the sky. The Ballad of the Windfish. But this playing was decidedly slower and more severe than the composer had intended, carrying a heavy weight on each note, a crescendo building toward an unknown end.

And there was water all around, a giant mirror at his feet. Neither was it dark nor light in this strange place, instead a cast off and foggy blue, milky like with lye and blood, so he could just barely see his own reflection in the dull lake and… there were people. Dead bodies in the water, nude as the day they were born; all ages, all types of people, all floating right side up. Arms and legs were curled like old branches, and faces were contorted in grotesque macabre, everyone seeming frozen in the throes of an agonizing death. Only one thing the same between them all, the one thing that stood out most of all; the bloated red eyes.

He was in his training uniform, though the face mask was missing, and a quick check revealed he held none of his customary weapons on his person. The sky up above was a stirring of black and white smoke, the scent of rot in the air, and he could taste rust on the back of his tongue.

Well, maybe not trapped. He always could leave his dreams at any time, and more often than not control or influence them. Lady Impa called it lucid dreaming. But for now he would observe and dissect, curiosity staying his hand. It was always fascinating to see what his subconscious thought of without his guidance, and this certainly was one of the more… twisted turns his imagination decided to take.

"It's almost time you know."

He spun around to find the speaker, a small boy garbed in green sitting on a tiny island, beneath a gnarled dead tree. Little hands were curled around the hand of a small sword held straight up with the tip in the loose dirty like a barrier, as if it could protect him against the head was bowed, dirty blond fringe covering his face from the Sheikah's view.

"Time for what?" He began to move carefully toward the child, eyes mostly down to be careful as he stepped around bodies, ignoring the maggots he could see crawling over dead flesh.

"To show the way." The boy's voice had barely broken a whisper, his breathy words fogged in the chilly air. The child looked up, eyes showing what adults sometimes called and old soul, deep blue gems with an infinite past. The child couldn't be more than ten, yet he looked weary beyond both of their years combined, though his face still held the softness of youth. "And to fight yourself."

The blond wasn't one to be told riddles by his own mind, he had enough of that during his lessons in his waking hours. He moved to get a closer look at the boy when something different in the water before the island caught his eyes and stayed his feet, something swirling among the dead white bodies.

Black ink. It ghosted like a dancer between forms, not even disturbing the water with its path. He watched several tiny tendrils moving from around limbs, all quickly joining, coming closer to him. He backed up two stumbled steps, heel hitting someones bloated stomach just as Red eyes, foul and milky unlike his own, stared up at him from the black, the ink taking a more solid form around the two points of red. He swiftly looked back up at the boy. His own eyes wide with fear, only to find the others bright green tunic had dulled, a wicked smile upon his face where there had been none before. The child stood, eyes wide as they could go as he stared the Sheikah down.

"We already know you will lose." His voice was suddenly _wrong_, his own still there but there was another overlapping it, and it made a chill pass over his skin. The child dropped the sword in the water at its feet, starting over toward where the warrior had stopped, crossing water and stepping on the dead, not giving care as their skin and bone broke apart under his feet. "But it will be fun to watch you fail anyways."

Just as the younger boy had reached him, grabbing out for him, the young warrior had decided he'd had enough of this dream and closed his eyes, willing himself awake.

'No more, this is foolishness.' His voice in his own head was unsteady, a tremor of fear, but he fought it back with the reminded that none of this was real, and truly he was back home in his bed. He waited and calmed his breathing, not even sure when it had begun to escalate. 'Settle… just settle…' He counted his heart beats and then began to pace them, controlling them through sheer will, mentally thanking Impa for the training enabling him to do so. _"It is key to have control over one self."_ That certainly proved true, even in dreams it seemed. Speaking of, he was still conscious, so to say, so the dream mustn't be over?

The preteen took one final deep breath, letting it go as he opened his eyes, shocked to find himself in the same place he had wanted to leave. Only the boy was gone, his island remained,though even the bodies vanished. And the music had stopped, though when he couldn't be sure, now only the sound of dripping water echoing across the endless lake.

"What did you mean?" The warrior in training stepped forward, knowing he was speaking to no one but himself. Still he couldn't help the curiosity, moving onto the shore of the island to lay his hand on the twisted tree, finding the bark soggy beneath his fingers.

"You know what I mean." He was startled by the sudden appearance of a grown man, similar in every way to the boy of before, siting at the base on the opposite side of the tree. The blond Sheikah quirked a brow at his sudden appearance, feeling his heart do a tiny escalation once again. The other male, now older than himself by at least a handful of winters, tilted his head back to smile that same wicked smile at the blond, red milky eyes glinting up at him. "Not that it matters right? We can't change who we are."

He opened his mouth the respond when he noticed a bright green blur a bit away and in front of the shadow man. He squinting as he walked past the tree and tree toward the strange new thing, entranced by the ethereal light it emitted. Stars began to cast through the thick fog overhead, the smoke clearing to draw his gaze up, watching an infinite untold number of cosmos and constellations wink in and out of existence.

"Who are you?"

He looked back at the green figure who spoke, seeing it now to be a man, though other than that he couldn't tell much else.

"I am the Guide."

Sheik balked a bit, his voice, but not, he hadn't spoken, though clearly it _was_ his answer. He… was a guide. This ones guide.

Something cold and dark began to slither along his spine, beneath his skin, the boy stiffening up and cursing himself for forgetting the other was back there.

"I am the Corruption."

A vile taste fills his mouth and sticks between his teeth, the blond scowling at nothing and everything. And he wished to move, to walk toward the green garbed figure, feeling it would be safer to stand near him, though he found he could no longer control his body, everything he did was up to the darkness within him.

"You don't have to be."

The voice of the green man was indescribable, something that scared and yet sent thrills of excitement through him, comforting and expectant all at once, the voice of a legend. His head turned up to the sky against his will, red eyes watching as the stars began to quickly snuff out in random sequence, everything light dying around him.

At least, he knew, somehow, he still had his voice left in the end.

"Someone must, Hero."

* * *

"**I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking."**

**-Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay **

* * *

AN: Short chapter, sure we know who this person dreaming is. It's my one day off a week today, I will be writing and drawing. After I visit the DMV. Yay. Also I have a reviewer who has commented twice now, and, when I saw that dude, I stood up from my chair and ran around my house with arms up 'I HAS A FRIEND'. Yep, that's me. My friend keep reviewing my shitty writing and make me smile, because you have no idea what it means.

~IANR636~


	5. Of Things to Come

**Of Things to Come**

* * *

"Sarasin hadh'akah Lady Impa."

"Hadah'kah ploa Sheik."

He watched as the cloaked warrior turned her mottled horse and began down the mountain path out to the field, not even waving back at the tan boy. Not that he ever expected such a childish gesture from the Great Lady, but he had seen some of the other warriors give some rather intimate farewells to friends and family before. Though Lady Impa didn't seem the type for public displays of affection, even so simple a thing as a wave of a hand. Neither was he really; and it was rather foolish anyways, like wishing someone good luck.

He remembered a time when luck was something he did believe in, since it seemed Lady Fortunia was always on his side. But one crisp autumn day and a series of unfortunate events involving himself and some of the practice knives his teacher had given to him had swiftly taken that hope away from him. That and the several weeks of recovery that followed it, considering he had somehow been so fortunate enough to become infected with a rare virus that was carried by an even rarer fungi that only grew for a couple of days every year in only a handful of places across the province.

Actually the potions master all the way in the Hyrule Castle market had heard of the infection and come all the way to see him, and add the fungi for his collection, thanking him greatly for "stumbling upon it."

That was the end of his notion of luck.

Once he could no longer see his mentor in the distance Sheik made his way back to her home, which was also his really, to grab a simple breakfast before he would get to his daily training. Lady Impa had stepped up his regiment more and more as of late, and while he was no longer taught along with his peers, the blond had figured out that his routine training was quite a bit more intense than the usual. Most of the other Young Shadows worked on two exercises per day, took their midday break, and then decided what they might do for the rest, whether than be more work or schooling or otherwise. He, however, had to continue on with his work until the night-time, only to resume mental and musical studies within his home. For him there was no choice of down time, his was a life of constant motion.

It was challenging to keep to such restraining measures, but Lady Impa had specially chosen him, of all Young Shadows, to train under her. He would nigh throw such an honor back in her face by failing to meet her standards.

Every morning as the sun began to tinge the sky Impa awoke, wasting no time to linger in the warmth of her bed by going outside to do her morning stretches, snow or dew be damned. Of course she always expected Sheik to join her, and he made sure to at least be only moment behind. To miss the warm-up meant she would ignore him until the sun was peaked in the sky much later on, and though it was somewhat nice to have such a break, by the end of it the disappointment he could feel was down right impossible to handle. Noon when the elders came out to speak with her or someone else drew her away, Lady Impa would train with him, constantly upping the ante on what he must do. Once Sheik had perfected the art of running while falling he had to do so with blades out, and once that was honed he had to dodge anything she threw out on the field only a split second ahead of him. Climb the gnarled trees of the graveyard, roll away from an attack and back to ones feet with grace, walk through gravel without a single stone shifting, draw and throw knives within the single beat of a heart; his life was that of a finally tuned warrior, always being shown new ways to hone his craft.

That was the normal of course, constantly giving him steady improvements, slowly and steadily making him up to her par. That he could handle; harder than everyone else's training and slightly unfair at times true, but he could deal with that. It was a great honor after all, many of his peers and several of his elder shadows were rather jealous after all. But the last few months had become… very trying to say the least. His master had suddenly set the bar in all of his studies higher, nearly the level of those nearly twice his age, leaving him grasping to keep up. And she was near constantly gone now, where before she would stay at her own house three nights a week now she was gone for several weeks straight, only to return home for a single night and disappear right the next morning, not even lingering for their morning stretches.

One would think that would make things easier on him really, less stressful too, without her watchful gaze always judging him. But no, where she was not the other fully realized Living Shadows took her place, some managing the achievement of being more imposing than she.

Sheik took it all in stride with unbreakable silence and stone will. He never disobeyed and never stopped pushing himself, even if it meant physical injury, which often it did, so long as his mentors were pleased with him. If they were happy then so was he. When his master came to visit she would always ask for his progress; though she never looked as happy as he thought she should, at least he was never receiving a scolding of any kind. He was keeping pace with her regiment, and kept up in his studies and the care of her house. But it wasn't enough, so he always was pushing harder, trying to please her lest she give up on him and move onto another.

Although Sheik knew it wasn't him she was disappointed in. There was a stirring in the Castle as of late. The Princess was having visions of a storm cast future ahead, and the Lady Impa in being bound by Blood Oath to the family believed in them as much as the little girl. Though her father, the King, was a different story, the man finding no time for his daughters premonitions in light of his forming alliance with the Gerudo. Though that was how the rumors went, and Impa had told him much the same.

"_It's how history is written."_ Lady Impas words played through the young preteens mind as he ate his morning fruit and bread while he cleaned up their house, fixing beds and putting away last nights diner-ware. _"And the elders say it is nearing time for the Hero to rise once again."_

The Hero… the one able to truly wield the Blade of Evils Bane, the sword that supposedly held dominion over all others. Not that Sheik was contesting that, he fully believed in the sword, after all it was a real and tangible thing. The supposed Hero, on the other hand… well, one man set forth to fight for everyone, always appearing at the right time, always to win… it just seemed foolish to him. Too much of a gamble really.

Anyone could step forward and be that 'Hero', they just had to be brave and skilled enough. Like Lady Impa, or maybe someday himself even. It was just the first warrior to grab the sword and win who got labeled the Hero by the history books, no one was really set to become such a thing from birth.

The Goddesses wouldn't possibly leave something like that up to chance, because if something happened to this supposed appointed hero, well, then what?

"You will climb the water fall today." One of the Living Shadows who frequently watched over his training slipped stood outside his home, having waited for him to emerge once again, giving the command. Sheik only nodding in acceptance as they moved, the orange tint of the morning rise beginning to cut lazy long shadows on his village. Men and women were already out and about, grabbing fresh pots of water and collecting a fresh set of wood for fires. A few of the smaller children, those barely speaking age, were outside as well, sitting in short grasses and playing with toys. And some of the school aged ones were just emerging from homes, water in hand, beginning their stretches, preparing for the day of training. The Sheikah were very simple folk, it was evident when you looked at their homes and daily lives.

No stone streets, only dirt and grass and well-worn paths showed any semblance of roads. No animals for the purpose of chores, simply a few cows and goats and chickens, fruit trees and vegetable patches spotted here and there, all the purpose of medicine and food. Of two wells only one was used, a meeting place for everyone to greet and chat, share aches and pains and good tidings of new babes to be born. The other well, a relic really, was never even approached anymore, the water inside probably long stagnant since it had been sealed over generations past.

The houses were rough and imperfect, warps in wood and flaking paint in various colors, and additional rooms added on without the thought for visual aesthetics, simple for it meeting its purpose. And the people, when not in uniform, wore the most simple of garb, lose pants and vests, sleeping gowns and simple caps. Bare feet were fairly common, shoes only saved for when there was an event, work, or to leave the village.

A Living Shadows life was strict and perfection, details and the weight of a thousand burdens. But the life of a Sheikah civilian was peaceful and full in its simplicity.

Sometimes he still pined for the simpler things.

Outside of the village they approached the falls where he had just bid his master farewell, Sheik taking in a slow deep breath as the sound of the water became clear. This was an exercise he had heard many of the men and women of the village speak of several times, a core piece of training for a Sheikah. He himself had been at this particular task for four days now, and perhaps this could be the day he would be done with it and could cast it off as the useless skill he knew it to be.

Honestly when was he ever going to scale a waterfall from beneath the flow of the water?

"You have until the sky is at it's highest." The same words that had been spoken to him the last four days as well. The warrior beside him stopped and gracefully fell to the grass, folding his legs upon landing and crossing his arms, clearly waiting for him to take the reigns from here, like he had done the last few mornings that they had been at this.

The blond rolled his neck as he moved over to the pool of water below the two story fall, already feeling the strain of the climb on his muscles. He was rather weary of this exercises, but until he could make it all the way to the top in one breath it would continue. A test of his endurance, though he felt there was better ways to go about that then this. But he never complained, simply diving into the water, full gear on, and swimming over to the rocky bottom beneath the cliff. Though this time might be different, learning from his mistakes each day he had come back with something new to himself, and today it was the tiny linen bandages wrapped around each of his fingers.

He cleared his mind of the frustrations, watching a few bubbles float up from his mask toward the rushing waters surface, his muscles becoming tight as he reaches out for the first stone slick with moss and algae.

"_We already know you will lose." _We?What could the boy in his dream have meant? What could he possibly lose at? He took one last breath before moving under the heavy water curtain to begin his ascent, ears suddenly shifting from the muffled sound of the world below the water to the open air torrent of it cascading down around him. Sheik played no games, so there was nothing he could lose. His training? That wasn't possible either, since no matter how many days and nights in a row he failed he would try time and again, steadily getting closer to the goal. To Sheik there was no losing, it wasn't possible, so what ever trickster Fae had been playing with his mind had been wrong, simple as that. Foolish creatures anyways, with rather simple minds too, he had no reason to be worried.

Still… he was. He couldn't help it. No manner of logic could stop that. Perhaps it was all the talk the night before when him and Lady Impa sat before the fire, talk of the Princesses dreams, or of the elders foreseeing another historic event on the horizon. Whatever it may be, that image of the green garbed boy was all he could think of as he scaled the slimy rocks beneath the rushing waters, calloused fingers finding it easier today than last to keep their hold.

* * *

A light, green and white, pulsing with life centered around the Kokiri sword like a beacon point, making the markings on the blade gleam and glow.

She wasn't worried, she could recognize the Great Deku Trees magic anywhere. Perhaps he could hear her through the light.

"Oh, Great Deku Tree!" She fluttered up the light, feeling momentary rejuvenation at the sight and feel of his presence. "I believe we vanquished the evil that had cursed you. Unfortunately your Kokiri Link is worn out and injured, I'm not sure we can get out on our own." The fairy sighed. "What do you think we should do?"

After a moment the light grew and consumed the blade, spreading across the room with a comforting and familiar warmth, a sign that he had heard and was answering he prayer. She floated back to her Kokiri boy to settle on his chest, waiting with him as the light approached.

"Don't worry Link, every thing's going to be alright now. I'm your guardian fairy, and I'm going to take good care of you."

* * *

"Will he be alright?"

"He will survive, the fates have given us as such."

The first voice was certainly his fairy, and the second the Deku Tree. Though how he could be hearing the tree way down here wasn't so certain. He was way to tired to bother figuring that out though.

"Perhaps he should be sent to rest?"

That voice was also an uncertainty, a females voice he had not heard before. Smooth and gentle like a mothers should be, calming him as he lay perfectly still in the warm grass.

Wait… grass?

"No, my time is nigh. He must awaken."

"Alright, let me try something."

Why would he be in the grass? There wasn't any grass down in that cave—

"HEY! LISTEN!" A shrill shout in his ear bolted his eyes wide open, staring straight up into the twilight sky.

Grass… _and _sky?

"There ya go. He's probably cranky though."

"Thank you Navi. Great Deku Tree, with the remaining time I believe I will see to my next in line. Farewell."

"Fare thee well Sage, may we be friends again in the next world."

Something green and effervescent flashed in his peripheral but he couldn't be bothered to look over, every fiber of his being screaming at him to remain perfectly still. Maybe they would think he was dead and leave him be…

"Link, just sit up for now. All you gotta do is talk to the Great Deku Tree for a bit, then we can go sleep in beds and have nice warm food. And that cake we promised each other too." Navi fluttered right above his face, a warm soothing light, Links fingers twitching with the want to swat her away but lacking the will to do so. He would just close his eyes and eventually she would go away.

"Link, my last child, you must awaken now to heed my words."

The Great Deku Tree… right. He was below the sky, laying on the grass, and the Tree was nearby. He was out of the caves below, safe and alive. He smiled and lifted his head to see the guardian spirit, smiling at his elderly tree. "Hi." His voice was dry and horrid sounding and his lip had cracked when he spoke, the boy tasting the saltiness of blood, but he didn't mind that so much at the moment, seeing that his work was worth the effort.

Except nothing here was different. The bark was just as gray and sickly as before, and many branches still lay bare up above. With great self control the blond Kokiri forced himself to sit up more fully, ignoring the throbbing pains all over his body, especially his left leg, to have his conversation with the Tree. Something he could now sense was a great deal more important than a simple chat.

"Thou hast verily demonstrated thy courage, and I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes…" Navi floated slowly over to her father tree as he worked up the energy to continue speaking, something which was clearly taxing on him now. "I have yet more to tell ye though, wouldst thou listen, if ye be not too tired."

If a tree could cough Link was sure he would, the boy ignoring the way his vision swam to nod his head, wanting for the Great Deku Tree to carry on.

"Now, listen carefully…" Navi settled upon his sickly bark, the blond noticing now that there were several Faes holding onto the tree, as if they had all been called there by something. He could feel it too, and yet no other Kokiri were present. "A wicked man of the desert cast this dreadful curse upon me…" A desert man? As in dirt so fine it never stuck together? That must be so far, how did he ever get in here? And why would he do such a thing?

"This man, with eyes like two wicked suns, ceaselessly uses his vile, sorcerers powers in his search for a sacred realm." Two wicked suns… why did that seem vaguely familiar? "For it is within this realm that one may find the relic blessed by the essence of the Goddesses from when they first made these lands."

The tree went quiet for several minutes to catch himself, giving Link a moment to think over what he had heard. A wicked desert man… sun like eyes… the Goddesses relic… and the creation of all of their land? "Wait, how was the land created? I never heard that story."

The Great Deku Tree remained silent and still for another moment, the fairy's on its surface flickering in and out of existence like tiny pyres in the twilight. Link almost thought he might not get an answer from the ailing tree before the deep voice began again. "Before time began, before spirits and life existed…"

* * *

"Where this Sacred Realm resides, only the Royal Family knows, a secret that is passed on through their lineage since our time began..."

Sheik set the book down with a bored sigh, flipping the cover closed with little care or respect for the thing. Honestly it was an old foolish wives tale, just a bedtime story meant to entertain kids in bed and give locals something else to gossip about.

He wasn't _ completely_ foolish, all tales held some grain of truth. But some 'Sacred Realm' with a 'Triforce'? Really?Honestly his peoples bleeding eye seemed so much better. Plus it had real history to it, not some fairy tale. Now that was a history he wouldn't mind as an assignment; but no, Lady Impa had left decided that this month he would study the culture of the outside world to a greater extent, especially the Hylians that made up the majority of it.

At the sound of a long low whistle his blond head whipped around to the windows, listening for a moment as people began to come out of their homes at their leisure. It was only a few days after Lady Impa had left, and the end of the week, which meant the mail had arrived. Most Sheikah didn't get much personal correspondence, even from family and friends out on missions, usually it was just newsletters and necessary things such as supplies and materials.

He wasn't expecting anything, the Lady having only just left after all, so he used the momentary pause of life in the village as an excuse to take a break and put up a pot of water for some tea; he would need the caffeine if he was to be reading this dribble for the rest of the evening.

Perhaps he could just skim read it…

The pot was just beginning to whistle when there came a knock at the door, startling him due to his current train of thought. The tan boy cursed under his breath as he moved to take the kettle from the flames, trying to fight off the light blushing in his cheeks as he moved to and opened the front door.

"Yes?" He looked up at the older man smiling down at him, holding out a small letter stamped with a bright red wax royal seal. This particular old man, a retired villager who once ran the bakery, had grown rather… bored in his late years. And nosy. So he took it upon himself to be ever so kind as to personally take everyones mail from the Mail Carrier and deliver it to their homes. Which was why now several people went out to greet the Mail Man themselves, but to those that weren't expecting anything, like an important letter from the castle…

"It seems the Royal Family is sending summons? I wonder why, have you been naughty young Sheik?" His sanguine sweet voice was disturbing to say the least, Sheik couldn't even fathom how his wife dealt with him.

"It must be for the Lady of the house. However she has already departed for the Castle several days passed." Small and smoother hands than the elders moved out to take the letter, the boy eager to get back inside and hopefully closer to finishing his work.

But the old man had another idea, pulling the letter back and up, just out of the reach of the shorter Sheikah. "Ah, well no, you see young shadow, _this_ particular letter is addressed the the protegé under the Lady Impas wing, the very one staying in her house hold." He grinned, an eerie glint showing on his yellowed teeth. "Which I do believe would be you. Curious no? Perhaps something has happened out in Hyrule?"

Sheik was very much so done dealing with him, ignoring how embarrassing the action was to hop up and grab the letter away from the man, doing his best to fight back the scowl to instead thank him before slipping closed the door in his face.

"Lany'an…" He muttered as he placed the letter down by his books and moved to make that cup of tea before the water cooled, slightly annoyed with having to deal with the man at all. Sheik rarely got mail, and usually he was expecting it so he could go get it himself, but every so often surprises came about and he was forced to deal with the village busybody. Sheik grabbed a small handful of sweet flower tea down from the drying basket to add to his mug, breathing deeply of the fumes that arose when he poured the hot water on top. It wasn't that he was disrespectful, and certainly not of his elders, but some people had no lives, and thus had to bother into every body else's. It was annoying, every body thought the same thing, but they all put up with it because of respect and the such.

He was just taking the first scalding sip of the herbal drink when he realized that there was a royal sealed letter, addressed to himself, waiting for him to pay it some mind. He coughed a bit after inhaling some of the burning tea, ignoring the pain inside his chest to set his cup down and move over to his desk, eyes never leaving the seemingly ordinary letter. His hands were much more careful picking it up this time than he had snatched it from the elder Sheikah's hands, red eyes taking in every detail about it he could.

The paper was a robins egg blue, even complete with the speckles from age. The red wax was tough to the touch and reflected no light, instead it looked like it was impure with some sort of metal flakes. And the seal, of course, was what stood out the most. The Royal Family's personal mark, a Loftwing, attesting to their long and traceable roots to the original Hylian bloodline, of those who once resided in the skies. His fingers tips ran lightly over the whole thing, paper and seal and ink, a quick addressing of 'Lady Impa's Sheik' the only direction to himself. But that was all it needed, he was her Sheik after all, her Shadow Child, walking in her shadow cast until he had earned his own.

"But why send me this… It must be from Lady Impa." No question about that, there would be no reason he would get mail from any real royal. They probably didn't even know he existed.

He broke from his admiration of the letter to break the seal, feeling the magic also snap like a rubber band, tipping him off even more so about two things. One, this was definitely from his master, he'd recognize the scent of her magic anywhere. And two, that this was rather important, if not serious. He carefully unfolded the missive, always fearful of paper cuts, and turned his attention to the long note, dropping down to the cushions before the fire as he began to read.

—

"Oh, Impa! I am so glad you are back!" The tiny blond ran up to her, all smiles and pink flowing fabric and sweet little girls voice. Since the courtyard was empty the normally stoic warrior saw no problem in tucking down to one knee to receive the embrace, returning it with a smile of her own. "Oh I have ever so much to tell you! I had several dreams and my father and I had a talk and I fell off a horse and the scullion boy keeps bringing me cake every night and—"

"Slow down little Lady." Impa gave the Princess a tiny squeeze and stepped back to stand, shouldering her bag of things for the duration of her stay as she gave the girl her fullest attention. "Alright, one thing at a time. Save the most important for last, and if you would be so kind walk with me to my room." The silver haired woman glanced up at the windows surrounding the court yard, something drawing her eyes, but before she could find what the girl tapped her feet, drawing the Lady's attention once more. She smiled down at the little girl and began through the courtyard, making the long walk to her quarters to settle in for the next fortnight, the feeling of being watched placed in the back of her head to dissect later.

The tiny Princess, more a ball of ruffles and silk than a child, grabbed her skirts and began walking alongside her personal guard, smiling as she began to break down her time since the Sheikah's absence.

"Okay, first there is the kitchen boy. Ever since I went in for midnight tea and cakes that night you left, you remember right? Well he has visited my room every night to deliver a tray. I told him a few days ago not to, but then he said—"

Impa continued to nod and listen, even if the topic of conversation wasn't terribly interesting at the get go, leading the way as they walked to her rooms. Occasionally a guard or staff along the way would nod and greet her, but most ignored her with a rudeness, showing exactly how they felt about her kind by the fact that they were willing the snub her even with the royal daughter right beside her.

"And then I fell off a horse. Now, I was trying to get papas attention see? So I took out Nelly, you remember Nervous Nelly, cause I knew she would buck right? So anyways papa was out hunting with some visiting nobles, and I took Nelly out—"

She had left instructions for her Sheik and those who she trusted him to in her absence, detailing his lesson plans for the next month. If she ended up staying longer, which happened more often lately, she could just mail out more, but usually Zelda and the King gave her some sort of leave of absence, even if only for a few days. They seemed under the impression that Sheik was her son, though she suspected the King was a bit more educated in their culture, but the belief afforded her more opportunities to visit home. Though she was not one to shirk her duty, it was good for her people to keep them updates on the outside world, and to check on her shadows progress herself.

"Impa!" The little Lady stomped her foot, giving the Sheikah pause to stare down at the small girl standing before her, arms cross and chubby cheeks puffed out and pink. "You are not listening!"

Most of the time Princess Zelda was the perfect little girl, manners and politeness to pass around; but with those she considered her friends, such as Impa, she could be a little… childish sometimes. "My apologies Little Lady, you were saying about the horse…?"

Zelda huffed and turned around to continue down the sunlit halls, now leading the way with a pouting stomp. "No, I was past the horses story. I was talking about the talk I had with my father." It seemed she forgot the discretion in a heartbeat, turning around to Impa with a smile that was as bright as the rays lighting their way. "Oh he was so understanding! And I finally understood him too." She waited for Impa to catch up the few paces before taking her free hand, swinging it between them as they walked. "We talked about how he has been ignoring me since my birthday, and what he has been so busy with."

At the final words the Princess trailed off, keeping her head down as they walked toward the staircase, one of the guards who actually spoke to her waving and giving a smile, Impa nodding with a tiny smile back. She squeezed the little hand in her own, encouraging the girl to continue.

Her voice was smalled and much darker than just before, reminding the Living Shadow of how the girl spoke after having one of her visions. "I do not like the Gerudo King. His eyes remind me of the pig in my dreams."

"The Gerudo King is visiting?" The Princess nodded. So Ganondorf Dragmire was in the castle, the King of the Thieves. He had been very crucial in helping the Hylians during the Unifying War, earning him one of the highest statuses in the Kings court after simple appearing from out of nowhere. The rest of the world hadn't even know the Gerudo had had their King until he sent a missive over 10 years ago to the King, offering his resources and aid. "So you said he reminded you…"

"Remember the pig in my dreams?" As they began to ascend the stairs their pace slowed, mainly because of the little Princesses many dresses slowing her down and Impa polite enough to keep pace with her. "They have the same eyes; those horrible yellow eyes. And he has Din's blessing upon him."

"Is that not a good thing?"

"No, not in this case."

A Goddesses blessing upon someone evil could never be a good thing, and it had happened more than once in history to prove it could happen again. But why would it be the very same man who had helped them out? "And what do you see him doing that is so foul my Lady?"

As they reached Lady's Impas chambers Zelda trotted over to the plush bed to launch herself backwards onto it, reclining completely spread out with a deep sigh, the Princess obviously tired from the long walk as her air filled skirts slowly settled. "He will invite the storm clouds in to my Castle."

"Was this another dream?" Impa was going to put away her clothes but decided it could wait, instead moving over to sit on the edge of the bed beside the resting girl, only reaching up to pull off her riders cloak and cowl, freeing herself to the cool air of the stone room. "Tell me, what did you see Princess."

Impa was always helping the girl decode her dreams; not that she was a reader but she was well learned and able to decipher most situations into possible and usually correct representations. Lately the visions had been getting more and more complex, but usually the least the Shadow Warrior could do was offer some guidance, or an ear to listen.

"I was standing at my window, watching as sickly gray clouds rolled over Hyrule." A dainty hand lifted off the bed to swirl in the air, as if showing the clouds from her dream. "It felt like all the life in the land was gone Lady Impa, only me and Hyrule and the storm, and the storm was winning." Blue innocent eyes looked backwards and over at the Sheikah, meeting attentive ruby eyes. "Just as I felt the black clouds winning, about to overtake the keep, this light shot up right from the forest… It was so beautiful, and so pure. I've never seen anything like it before." Her hand dropped back to her lap, eyes turning back to the vaulted ceiling to gaze past at the heavens she couldn't see. "This child emerged from the forest within the light. They had a sprite with them, and a strange green stone that was bigger than any we have. As he approached the castle the storm clouds held their ground yet parted for him, as if he was immune."

A frown marred the prior calm face, causing her guard to give a tiny frown as well.

"But before he could save me, I was devoured by the darkness, the dark storm breaking though and claiming my keep."

Princess Zelda fell silent after that, continuing to stare up at the non-present sky as Impa thought over her words, closing her own red eyes in deep thought. Invading darkness, a savior from the forest, but they were too late. It was rather vague, but still foreboding. Usually her dreams were specific, like a lost items location or the color of a dress or whatnot, unless it was something serious such as her mothers illness. And like this.

"What do you think Impa?" She looked down to see the girl staring up at her, awaiting her knowledge to set her mind at ease. Even she could sense that this was something bad.

"What makes you think it's a he?"

"Hmm?" The little girl rolled over onto her stomach, propped up on her elbows.

"In your story you said he for the forest child, could you tell anything else about them? Their face or hair?"

The tiny girl closed her eyes and hummed, clearly trying to picture the child from their dreams. "I know it was a boy in my heart, but other than that and his green dress I couldn't tell anything else."

Green dress? "Kokiri child then. Strange, I had heard they could not leave their forest haven. To venture too far from their guardian tree meant the end of their life force."

"So a Kokiri will come to the castle?" Zelda smiled and swung her slippered feet up in the air, excited at the prospect.

"Well, if he is to deliver something to you, and he had a fairy, then it's safe to say so. His guardian spirit would have to have a good reason to send him out of the safety of their home." Which was probably the storm and what it represented; the Deku Tree was well known as a prophet amongst the realm bound Deity's.

"And the dead land? Why was there nothing except me in all of Hyrule?"

"Perhaps… the calm before the storm. The province is unsuspecting of anything coming, and thus the storm strikes when none stand ready to its tempest." She had never been terribly good at deciphering dreams, but ever since the little Lady had discovered the Sheikah's trade of doing so she had encouraged her guard to learn. Not one of the silver haired womans favorite subjects, but for the Princess she was willing.

"I see. So no one will expect it…" Zelda's arms buckled and she fell face fist into the comforter, sighing into the freshly laundered fabric. "And what of the storm?"

Impa sighed as well and began to peel off her traveling boots, finally realizing the state of her clothes and body and deciding that after she had entertained the Princess she would take a nice long bath. "Well, which way did it come from?"

"Which way? …Oh, it came from the desert—!" The fabric cover over her hair danced through the air like a flag as the girl vaulted herself to kneeling up on the bed, facing her Sheikah Guard with a startled face. "_He's_ the dark storm!"

Luckily Lady Impa had become well versed in following her Little Lady's flights of thought. "The Gerudo King?" The tiny girl nodded excitedly at the revelation, her tiny cheeks red from her racing heart. "Are you sure?"

"Of course!" The girl flung off the bed to begin pacing around the room, walking back and forth between the bed and the window filled with streams on setting sunlight through the curtains. "And the calm, no one would suspect him since he just assisted my father in the war, so he could make a move at any time!"

It did seem to fit, but the implications… Dragmire turning against them after having done so much to help… but it was more than possible, he was a very intelligent man. Normal men would simply declare war and meet their opposition head on, but smart men would be more likely to whittle their way behind their foes back and stab them with a poisoned blade, attacking them from within their home.

"Oh Impa! We must tell my father right away!"

She looked over at the pleading girl, feeling worry over the situation as much as she. If it truly was Ganondorf they had to worry about, and the man was already readily invited into the King's home, then they didn't have much time. However… "What can we do Princess? We can no more throw accusations of The Gerudo Kings deceit than can we take him out ourselves." Truthfully, the situation left their hands tied until something happened, and the only thing that could possibly happen wasn't good.

"Oh, but… "Zelda stopped her pacing to stare down at her hands worrying the front of her dress, wrinkling the fine silk into a tiny bunch."…Then what shall we do?"

Impa stood and moved over to the small girl, placing her hands on both of the tiny shoulders with a reassuring squeeze. "We will wait for the Kokiri child. Should he show we will know the time has come and our suspicions correct. And he is safe from the evil is he not?" The blond head shook and looked up to meet her smiling gaze. "Then he may be able to help us even more than delivering a message."

Zelda nodded and smiled back. "And that stone, I know it is important somehow."

Indeed, something about the idea of a green stone from the forest rang a bell in her memory, but she hadn't been able to fix on what as of yet. Actually there was several things about this dream that rang familiar to the Sheikah, but she was by no means able to access her own library to research. She would look in the Royal Family's library to find what she could, but she trusted her own books much more.

Perhaps… there was a way she could have her own books looked into…

"My Lady, I promise to keep a close eye on Ganondorf Dragmire so long as he lay within these walls, and I will continue looking into the elements of your vision."

"How do you plan to do all of this and stay with me Impa?"

"Zelda, have I ever told you about my second shadow…?"

* * *

He put the letter down and stood to get his tea, completely oblivious to the room temperature liquid as he thought over what he had just read.

So the Princess was having visions, and no her most recent was rather worrying… to Lady Impa at least. Sheik didn't much buy into the whole prophetic thing much, he'd read once in a book about techniques and mental skills once could use to create the illusion of speaking with the dead or seeing the hidden past and the unsure future; though the though of a little girl pulling one over on his master was the most worrying thing of all.

Lady Impa had asked him to look up all the symbolism in the dream, find some connection or correlation in history or otherwise. Very vague instructions, it meant a lot of work to him. She also was asking for him to step up his training, informing him that she had sent a second correspondence to one of his teachers, only hinting at him to be prepared for new extremes.

So he was to study into a new field and decipher a vision before the supposed bad thing happened, and train harder than ever before at new things.

Life didn't seem terribly fair sometimes, even if you were the specially chosen Sheik of the legend Impa.

Sheik took a sip of his tea and looked over the rim of the cup at the bookshelves lining the living area, red eyes scanning the rows of books to try and decide where he should even begin. Well nothing of the supposed vision sounded familiar to him, which gave him nothing to work with.

Well, no, that wasn't true. They had decided the boy was a Kokiri, right? The blond boy set the cup down, forgetting about the bitter cold drink to move over to the far right most shelf and climbing the two bottom shelves to be able to see the spines of the tomes on the top shelf. He saw nothing differentiating one book from the next and so just grabbed the first one on the end, hopping back down with the old thick book with a slight ompf. He would just start with the Kokiri then, reading through everything he could about them. Perhaps he could find mention of this supposed pure light, or the green rock the kid had.

He was more interested in the training really, but most of that was done prior to the evening hours, the darkness left for his studies and recovery. Tan fingers riddled with tiny scars flipped open the cover of the book, pages crinkling loudly as they peeled off of themselves, making it well known that this particular volume hadn't been touched in quite a while. The edges of the parchment was gold leaf, and the ink inside was not the traditional black but rather a deep forest green. 'The History of the Forests of Hyrule Proper'.

He sighed and began to peel the pages to the first chapter, resigning himself to a night of reading about trees and fairy's.

* * *

AN: Didn't mean to slow down this soon, but again my job is very time-consuming, so. Anyways this is up, will be spending today and tomorrow writing for next updates, and I am finishing planning what the Sheikah Language will be for my story here, and once I am satisfied with it I will be posting it online somewhere, probably my tumblr. Maybe. Hopefully.

Also noticed, most stories do this whole disclaimer before every chapter of 'I do not own X' and I was wondering do I need to do this too? I mean it's obvious I don't own Zelda, or else I wouldn't be posting this at a fan fiction website. But also don't want my story removed, so this warrants further investigation. Unless one of you know, do I absolutely have to post a disclaimer?

~IANR636~

PS: Rorufuu is a sly dog who catches all my mistakes. I saw it and immediately went to fix, hyperventilating all the way. You know for someone who makes a lot of grammatical and spelling errors, I flip out about them pretty hard core. Gonna give myself a heart attack one day doing so that's for sure. Anyways thanks buddy, glad you're still around to watch me suffer. 3


	6. Departing on an Adventure

**Setting Out on an Adventure**

—

"Thank you your Majesty, it was an honor to be brought into your fold, your faith in me is both an honor and a gift." The larger man bowed deeply to the one dressed in reds and gold, making clear his status within the others home.

"And thank you my friend, it isn't easy to find those I trust in this world, I am glad to have your allegiance." The King placed his hand on the other leaders shoulder with a strong squeeze before moving past him to exit the room first, making his way to probably attend to personal matters.

After a moment he made to stand, showing no emotion to the guards and servants lining the walls as he made to leave as well, going to opposite direction than the King himself had left to. Even if he was an honored guest, Ganon was not invited to stay in anywhere the near quarters to the Royal Family, which was fine by him. The last thing he needed was to think of the old bastard snoring somewhere nearby, and his overly pink daughter too. Disgusting things the Hylians, paler than the worms beneath the dirt and lazier than the Gorons on the mountain.

"Will you be needing anything Sir Dragmire?" A servant that had begun awkwardly trailing him from the meeting chambers finally spoke up from several paces back, bright enough to know her place was out of his sight.

"No, I am to be left alone for the remainder of the evening." He continued his walk back to his chambers, barely hearing as the girl turned and left him be.

He had been in the Castle for nearly half a fort night now, and a dozen more times in the past years, though at day one he had been sick of the place. Everywhere he looked were Hylians, from servants to nobles to knights to civilians. Nowhere did he see a single Gerudo or Zora walking openly amongst them. Once he glimpsed a Zora girl hiding between the buildings in a heavy cloak, clearly scavenging for scraps of life from the locals, and a group of Goron had been transporting heavy building materials for the builders around the town, avoided and ignored by any who passed by them, but other than those sightings he had seen little else. How hypocritical of them; to have the so-called Unifying War only to still snub out all others within the realm.

Not that he was a friend of any other races, he would rather be rid of them all, but even he could see the irony of the whole situation. Of the whole world. The Hylians wanted to be the supreme race, same as him, but they weren't willing to admit it, instead feigning diplomacy and peace.

Sickening, he may not have what others would consider the most noble of intentions, but at least he wasn't two faced.

Well, except for this whole befriending the King situation, but that was temporary at best, it didn't count. Or nearly as disgusting a transgression as the Noble and Wise King of Hyrule, who after signing peace treaties with all the races within his green lands began to control them with an iron fist. It would be a shame if his precious daughter learned of the evils of her perfect father; it would certainly provide him with some much-needed entertainment. If only he had the time on his hands to instead plant the seed in her pretty little head, watch it blossom, watch her take the throne from her father with a bloody hand, then give it over to him… Would make for the most riveting of tales.

The Gerudo pushed into his room, ignoring the guards standing at attention outside of his door as he slammed it closed, making clear the idea that he was not to be disturbed. Even if his meeting had only been for a few hours it was exhausting dealing with someone so… He brought his hand up to his forehead and rubbed at both temples with his thumb and pointer finger, willing the stress away.

"Was it the false King, my Lord?" A whiny high-pitched voice drew his eyes over towards a medallion on the desk, the white gold glinting brightly in the fading sun. The large olive-skinned man moved over to the item and voice, dropping his cloak without care upon the floor as he moved its normally welcome weight a hindrance in such small quarters.

"I do believe it was. He's always the most stressed when dealing with that particular Hylian." The second pendant, a brilliant rose gold, gave off its own inner light as the voice arose from it as well.

"I have no had any extended contact with a Hylian, present case excluded, so you have no basis for your findings." The King of his people sat down heavily in the plush chair, sighing as he was finally able to give his legs a break, continuing to rub the headache away as he sagged sideways in the chair.

"My Kotake, I do believe we've annoyed our King." The white medal chimed and was followed by tsks.

The red metal hummed for a moment before responding. "Hm, perhaps Koume, but all the same we must speak with him."

Weren't those two together, like always? Why would they need to talk to each other through the antique artifacts and bother him further? They might respect him, but their twin-like quirks came a bit before that.

"And what pray tell did you bother me with this evening that is so pressing." Ganon sunk back into the entirely too small chair, hanging his head over the back to stare at the wall upside down behind him. That was another thing about them he hated, Hylians were such small creatures. Zora's were taller but thin, Gorons were bigger but short, and Sheikah were lithe and weak. Gerudo were tall and strong, able to stand up to the strongest of weather and deal with the worst of conditions; their people could never be so lazy or fragile, since being so spelled their deaths.

"Well… "Kotake began, crackly voice grating against the inside of his skull. "We had a vision today."

"And we thought you might wish to know of it, since it pertained to you and your goals." Koume finished for her more shy sister.

"A vision." He knew their eyes were as tuned to the spiritual plane as any Sheikah's, if not more so, so he had no reason to not trust their predictions as truths. He turned a bit more attentive, eyes opening to glare at the twins medallions.

At the wave of the mans hand to continue Koume resumed. "A Kokiri child will emerge from his forest haven and aid a Sheikah in bringing down your eminent reign."

Blunt, if vague, but it got right to the point. "A Kokiri you say?" Kokiri could not leave their woods, their guardian spirits barrier would not allow it. Though considering what he'd done to said Guardian, it was plausible…

"And a Sheikah my Lord." Kotake chimed in, voice a little less sure than her sisters.

Sheikah… the blood eyed slaves of the land. Their people had all but been exiled after the Hyrule Civil War, or as the people liked to call it to make themselves feel better, the Unifying War. Sure it had brought peace to the land, if you considered force assimilation form of peace. Zoras were forced to conform to the laws of the Hylians and trade at the Elfin peoples wills. And of course it wasn't fair trade either. Gorons abide by the same fate too, though they were less interesting to the Humanoids, they were put to good use as builders and suppliers. The Sheikah, however had been practically slaughtered, after the Kings foolish command to send them to the front lines. Now so few were left of what they had once been, the scraps hiding in their Village below the mountains.

"Perhaps… my Lord should take care of these two races?" Kotake's voice brought him out of his thoughts, the Gerudo man giving a nod of his head to the medallion to indicate she continue, though he was unsure how they perceived such gestures. "To eliminate them now would halt any action they could take against you in the future…"

"And both are so weak." Koume joined in, having picked up on her sisters train of thought without issue. "The Sheikah are numbered, their warriors crippled and weary. And the Kokiri are but children, yourself already having tainted their Deity."

Ah. He leaned back once again in the creaking chair, sighing deeply. "It would be easy." Indeed it would, the Lost Woods wouldn't be as well protected as they had once been, the Deku Tree's magic weakening. The Kokiri would put up no fight, he could even send in any greenhorn to deal with them. The Sheikah, however weakened their forces and numbers stood, would still put up a fight. He could not bring novices into that village, they would have to to trained warriors with blood on their hands, best those who had witnessed them in battle already.

And disposable too. No need to send his warriors to die if it could be avoided, after all the women were unwavering in their faithfulness to him, to cast that off would be foolish.

And Ganon was anything but a foolish man.

"We will wait." The dark-skinned man pushed out of the chair with a grunt, rotating his left shoulder as he moved toward the window. "For now none have a reason to plot against me, so there is no need for haste." As much as he would like to make his moves and be done with these people as soon as able, he knew that patience was key in his plan, even if it meant waiting a little while longer.

"One _other_ thing my Lord." Kotake's voice sounded much less sure this time, more like her sister, who was remaining silent for this news. "We believe that the Royal Princess's Guard, the Sheikah, may have the wisdom and skill to… be a problem for you."

Ganon turned to face the desk once again, the sunlight at his back casting him in deep shadow. "You mean to say she may be my downfall… if I allow her to be."

"It is… a possibility. She is rather skilled and accomplished."

"Not to mention insightful and swift."

"So it would be best for our Lord to just keep an eye on the Guard for a time."

"Just until your place is assured."

"Yes of course."

"Quite."

He waved a hand to cease their pointless chattering, the Twin Rova silencing at the command. "I will see what can be done about the favored Sheikah. Are we through here." Less a question, he really couldn't care what else they would have to say to him right now, the man just wanting to be done with their voices echoing about inside his room and head.

"Yes Lord Ganondorf, we bid you well."

Both of the voices, spoken in perfect chorus, faded, the magic of their seals leaving as well with a fizzled pop of magic that left the hair on the back of his arms standing. The man took a moment to appreciate the silence before another annoying noise reached his ears, echoing up from the gardens below his window.

"Oh Impa, I'm so glad you're back!" He moved over to the window to peer through the blue curtains at the meeting below, citrine eyes keeping a constant gaze on the Warrior entering the castle grounds.

He had heard about the Sheikah in passing, silver hair and markings that were as fierce as they were beautiful, though he had yet to see her himself until now. She was all pale and muscle, much like his own Gerudo women, and though she smiled kindly down at the blond Princess he could tell her body was constantly at the ready to strike if the need be arose; she was a Warrior through and through, there was no mistaking it. Add to that she was a Sheikah and that made her even more detrimental to his plans, her most basic abilities to perceive truth and lies something he would have to be careful with.

Red eyes whipped up to look straight at his window, the thief just stepping back in time to avoid her piercing gaze. He would never admit it but his heart had leapt to his throat, beating quite fast as he waited to hear if he had been seen or not. Not that he had done anything wrong, or suspicious, but he had no desire to paint himself as obvious in his intentions were.

After a moment though two pairs of footsteps moved away, the Gerudo exhaling a tight breath he hadn't even been aware he'd been holding. One hand came up to scrape through his hair, a nervous gesture he picked up as a child.

Or perhaps this woman could be a challenge for him. He knew he was more than good enough of an actor in front of the King and all under him, but could his skills of manipulation stand up to a Sheikah's eyes? Perhaps… he could make use of the Shadow Warrior in his plans instead of killing her off…

The red-haired man grinned at the thoughts brewing in his head, suddenly looking forward to his time here much more than just an hour before.

—

"How 'bout now Sleepy Head? Will you wake up?" A girls voice, sweet and comforting, reminding him of blue moss and green hair.

"How did you deal with him all this time?" A newer voice, somewhat unfamiliar but still nearly as comforting, also a girls. Reminded him o blue glowing things.

Mido would be jealous.

"Link can be pretty bad, but he's not doing to well right now, even with my remedy…"

"But it can't wait any more, we were asked to leave two days ago."

"He's only a little boy, the youngest of us."

"And he has been chosen, as much as that grants him privilege he cannot wait. The time is now, and he has rested enough."

He knew they were speaking about him, but every fiber of his being was wishing it wasn't so, just that he may roll over to block out their voices and pass back into the world of sleep, where his body wasn't cold and achy. As for why he was this way… he wish he could claim he didn't remember but he did. It might be fuzzy, like cotton willows brushing on the back of his head, but it was there.

"…_Thou must never allow the desert man in black armor to lay his hands on the sacred Triforce. Though must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to enter the Sacred Realm of legend…"_

He had slayed monsters and explored a whole cave system. He had wielded a sword and shield and found a slingshot. He had been scraped and bit, tangled in webs and soaked in grimy water. And he had set out on all these things to save the Great Deku Tree from an evil curse. To save his friends.

"_Because of this curse, my end is nigh__… I was doomed before ye started on your quest to save me."_

And failed.

"_This is Hyrules final hope." _

_A shot of green, a cold stone pulsing with life in his hands, he thought for a moment that maybe it was The Great Deku Trees own heart._

"_The future depends upon thee, Link__… Thou art courageous…"_

Link rolled over under the covers to face the wall, bleary eyes gazing unseeing at the swirls in the wood grain, dully listening as the two girls argued behind him. He wasn't courageous, nothing should depend upon him. He couldn't even save their father…

"—and he has barely left this grove before, hardly ventured into the woods beyond, he can't possibly be ready for this."

"He will have _me_ with him! And he must go, the Great Deku Tree said it was his destiny."

"And the Deku Tree is gone now! I have to protect everyone here until the new Tree is born and grows up! How am I supposed to be a good guardian if I start letting Kokiri wander off into the world!?"

"Well maybe if you let this one 'wander off' he could be helping you protect your people by taking care of the evil that stands against you!"

"Link isn't ready!"

"WELL WHEN WILL HE BE!?"

"NEVER!"

After the Fae's shouts the argument had hit a cease-fire, the boy thankful due to the pounding in his skull. He was thirsty and starving but he didn't want to move off the bed if it might mean getting in between those two. Girls were so scary, with guys they just fought out their problems, but girls shouted louder and louder and then walked away and cried. Or walked away and sent a boy to go fight for them.

The silence was really heavy, even without looking Link could feel the two girls staring each other down somewhere behind him. How long it might have lasted he didn't know, since his throat decided to remind him one again that it was dry by forcing a painful series of coughs to rattle his lungs.

"Oh, Link." Someone moved over to him to dip the bed with their weight, grabbing up the back of his head and lifting it up. He could see Saria now, or at least make out her green hair and clothes against the wetness in his eyes, the girl holding a cup of water up to his cracked lips. "Drink up."

He did just that, taking a big sip right away only to regret it a moment later when it tickled the back of his throat and he coughed it right back all over Saria and his bed.

"Silly, tiny sips until you're out of this bed, okay?" He didn't even bother to nod, simply resumed sipping calmly at the water, fighting down the redness in his cheeks at the little accident.

His fairy fluttered somewhere over head, her blue light reflecting off some of the river stones hanging from his ceiling. "How's he doing?" Their argument from just a moment earlier was seemingly forgotten, for which he was very thankful. The blond had been sick several times before, one time was especially bad with something Saria thought was an illness called a flew, but this felt just as bad if not worse. His skin was uncomfortable everywhere and he could feel the rough restricting tug of scabs, and his insides somehow felt beat up and weak, his stomach crying for food and at the idea of it.

The Kokiri girl removed the cool cup from his lips and set it down somewhere out of his sight, smiling down at Link. "How do you feel?"

"Clearly he doesn't feel well." Navi buzzed in from her perch on his bed post, sounding just as annoyed as if their argument had never ceased. "What do you expect him to say?" That was another thing, girls arguments were sneaky, they said one thing and implied ten others, and they always understood but it always left him and the guys clueless. Why couldn't they just duke it out in the grass like him and Mido always did? Ended things a lot easier in his opinion…

Saria placed his head down in her lap so her hands were free to put on her hips, lips scowling over at the pixie. "Well I was trying to be nice! You know, that thing you obviously can't be. Trying to shove a sick injured kid out into the world to fight monsters… honestly, the nerve of some folk…"

"_Excuse me?!" _The blue Fae jingled like bells, making the boy on the bed wince unnoticed at the quickly escalating noise. "_Some folk?! _I am THE Great Deku Trees last creation! I am his last hopes and dreams!" Link could see Saria roll her eyes, and even Link recalled her mentioning she had been around for some time. "And I am telling YOU that this BOY, no matter what shape or state of readiness he's in, MUST go out there to SAVE. US. ALL."

"I'm going."

Saria was just opening her mouth when the voice from below chimed in, giving her pause to look down at the boy in her lap. "You're what?"

Link licked his lips, hating the feel of them chapped as he swallowed thickly, meeting her green gaze with his own blue head on. "I said I'm going."

Navi darted into his vision to land on his nose, the boy having to cross his eyes just to see her. "That a boy Link! Just eat and get your stuff together then we can go!"

"Not today!" Saria sounded so upset as she stood from the bed, his head falling back on the cushions. "He's still so beat up, and he hasn't eaten for ever, and I haven't packed for him, and… and… him and I need to talk."

"Oh no." Navi fluttered off again, Link able to see her floating right before the forest girls face as he pushed himself into sitting up. "_You _just want to force him to stay for as long as you can, but you can't! He has to go as soon as he is able!"

"Guys, I said I'm going!" His throat hurt but it was far more important that he stop their shouting for now, feeling no ill will about yelling at the girls. "I just need a little time but… but I'm going." Link looked down at his hands, covered in little sticky bandages of mainly leafs crushed up. He was going to leave home. That's what this meant. Not just going out to the bridge or skirting the edges of the woods exploring, always with his home in sight. He was going to leave the forest and enter the world beyond. The idea brought a small smile to his dried lips, the boy looking up at both of the girls staring at him. "Heh, I'm going on an adventure."

"That's the spirit!" His partner danced over to lightly bop him on the forehead before settling on his mop of knotted hair, the boy giggling in new-found excitement at his plans. "Plus we get to have some of that cake I bet. Oh, and seeing all those people! I heard there was so many Hylians, way more than how many Kokiri we've ever had."

Link reached for the cup of water to finish it off, sighing happily after doing so. He could see that Saria looked sad at the news of his decision, and he felt bad about it. But it really was asked of him by the Great Deku Tree right before he… and Link couldn't refuse, even if all was still well. "Don't worry about me Saria." The boy hopped up off the bed, stretching his tired and sore limbs shakily. "I'll be as safe as possible, and Navi will help too." He moved over to the girl who still looked so unsure, smiling to try to calm her nerves. "It'll be just like all those adventure books you read to me, except now I get to be the hero. Isn't that great?"

Saria gave a slow unsure smile, sighing in acceptance of the fate of her friend. "It is great Link, and I'm glad for you." The girl moved over to his table, his eyes following and seeing all the food laid out and waiting, his stomach deciding to wake up now too with a near painful growl. The green girl began to ladle out some soup, Link eagerly moving over to partake. "I'm just so worried. Kokiri never leave the forest, I don't know how the world out there will take to you to be honest. What if they're mean to you?"

The blond licked his lips as he plopped down and grabbed the bowl, forgoing the spoon to bring the thick soup to his lips and begin to down it in gulps. Pumpkin soup, one of his favorites, his lucky day. The thought that this was his last meal at home didn't even occur to the Kokiri as he chowed down on the plating of breads and nuts and fruits, simply happy and content to nurse his head and tummy ache away with good food.

Saria had sat down opposite him at the table, chewing slowly on some nuts and Navi was sitting at the table taking tiny handfuls of soup to slurp at when the curtain over his door was pushed aside, Fado sticking her blonde head in. "Hi everyone!"

"Hi Fado." Saria smiled and waved the spastic girl in, though her face was still a little drawn from the earlier lost argument. "What can we do for you?"

The girl dropped the big bag she was carrying to the floor, several things inside clattering together from the abrupt fall. She sighed and smiled, looking the boy up and down. "You look much better Link. When Mido brought you back three days past we were all worried."

"Wait, three days?!"

"Wait, Mido!?"

Navi and Links outbursts stopped all the eating, Saria sighing as Fado stared back and forth between the two.

"Uhm, well, yeah, we found you three days ago now… and yeah, Mido was the one that found you and brought you back. Now." Fado skipped over the shattering news to crouch down and flip open her bag, beginning to dig inside and ignoring the crestfallen looks of the pair at the table. "Let's see what we can find for you for your journey to Hyrule…"

Saria shot right up at that, her snack forgotten. "Wait, who told you about that?" She walked over to stand beside the girl, looking down into her bag.

"Oh, well you did. When you were shouting. Hehee." Fado pulled out a strange metal dish, tapping it with her knuckle before setting it aside with a mutter about it being 'Too big.' "We were all listening you know, and when the argument died down I took it as my cue to come on up."

The green haired girls face was red, not having realized how bad the fight had gotten for the whole village to have been able to listen in. And Link and Navi were woofing down food, one because she hadn't realized how much time had passed and the other because he was annoyed with how he had gotten here.

Fado sensed the air getting heavy again, deciding to break it up. She held out a brown belt complete with pouches, her elfin feature pinching up in a cute pouty look. "Here Saria, think this should be good?" The other forest girl blinked down at her, confused, and Fado shook it at her again. "I think it might be a little big, but the Skull-kid that gave it to me said he took it from a farmer, so I guess it belonged to an adult. Think you can fix that?"

Saria slowly reached out to take the brown belt, bags handing securely by their own loops. She was shy and quiet as she held the strange thing at arms length, trying to see if it was anything like their own. Well for one it was made of a strange material, not any kind of cloth, and was certainly stronger than any of their belts. And then the metal buckle… they didn't have those either, the Twins carved all of them out of wood as need be. And the stitching was so fine; she ran her fingers along the perfect lacing in awe. "Wow… how extraordinary." Times like these it was no wonder why Fado was obsessed with the outside world, constantly collecting things and trading with the Skull-kids for things they brought back from it.

"That's nothing, lookit this!" Fado pulled a pair of boots from her bag with a 'Ta-Da', smiling as she held them out. Saria gasped and placing the belt over her shoulder grabbed the boots from the girl, marveling at them as well. These were made out of the same strong material as the belt, stronger by far than their cloth boots. It had little buckles and a tiny belt on each for tightening them to the wearer, and the bottoms of them were made of a very thick and strong material similar to the rest of the boot. "Aren't they cool?"

Link slurped up more of his soup and shoved a bit of nut bread in his mouth, watching as the two girls fawned over all the weird things. "Hey Navi?" He whispered down at the Fae, not wishing to disturb the strange peace. "What are they doing?"

The fairy's wings twitched as she sipped a bit of water from a thimble, watching the girls pick through the items the same as the boy. "I have no idea… "

"Oh, what about this cloak?"

"Oh, that would be perfect for cold nights and rain."

"But it's summer. It would just weigh him down."

"Oh true true… then maybe we should forget the whole cooking set too?"

"Maybe, he doesn't even know how to cook after all."

"Well then we should make him a bunch of stuff to take along!"

"Oh yeah, like sweet breads and jams and dried fruit!"

"But don't they have food out in Hyrule?"

"Can Kokiri even eat that food? Don't they eat _meat_?"

Blue eyes ping-panged back and forth to watch the discussion taking place, barely able to follow how the two jumped from one topic to the next. "Girls are weird."

Navi set down her thimble and wiped at her mouth, nodding her head. "You don't even know the half of it."

"So what do _you_ think Link"

He blinked at the name, but other than that was completely caught off guard. He hadn't really been listening to what was being said, he just knew things were being spoken. Why did they have to drag him into this?

"Hello, Link?" Fado was swinging the belt from earlier in front of his face while Saria rolled her eyes behind her. "What do you think of this belt?"

"Uhmm…" Link scratched at the big nasty scab on his knee, trying to decide what was the best and safest possible answer. "…It's very… pretty?"

Both of the girls sighed and Navi shook her head, a clear sign that he'd said the wrong thing.

"Yeah sure, maybe if you're a soldier. But does it look like it would be useful to you?" Saria had both her hands on her hips and was cocking her head sideways, waiting for his response.

"Oh, uh, yeah, its got a lot of pockets and stuff." And it did, he could store plenty of food and slingshot ammo and whatever else in those. "It'll be great… right?"

Fado smiled and winked before drawing the belt back to hand to Saria. "So, more notches, but not too many, he's kinda fat."

"I'm not fat!"

"And make it work with that baldric too. Oh and these shoes, his feet are so big, might wanna make sure these will fit him too." Fado handed the boots over as well to a nodding Saria, Links comment ignored.

"I'll get right on it then." Saria turned to Link to smile and nod with resigned acceptance before heading out the door, Midos shout muffled somewhere out in the village echoing up to surely greet her.

"Now." He turned back to see a grinning Fado holding out some scissors and a comb. "Let's see about that mop you call hair…"

—

By mid-day he was decked out as a whole new Link, ready for an adventure worthy of the books. His clothes were patched up and cleaner than they had been in a while, his boots were new and perfectly snug to his (totally not) big feet, his belts were more secure than they had been below the tree since now his sword and replacement shield didn't slide off his shoulders, and his hair… well… to him that was a loss really, but the girls said it looked good. He ran hid hands through the freshly clipped hair, now barely touching his ears, before he slipped his mended hat on. And he had discovered, thankfully, that when the Deku Tree moved him out of the caves he had been sure to get his slingshot too, or else Link might have contemplated going back to get it himself.

Also the green stone was in a secure pocket at his back, Link still thinking of it as the Trees Heart even when Saria told him it was called the Kokiris Emerald.

"Ready Link?" Navi settled down on his hat, sighing as she breathes in the freshly laundered scent. She was quickly forming the opinion that nothing was better than clean clothes, which was too bad since he wouldn't be doing too much of that on the road. Or ever.

The blond gave one last look around his home, unsure of when he might see it again. His bed was in serious need of re-stuffing, and the sheets had several holes in them. His curtains barely blocked the sun anymore, so thread bare after years of use. The wood floor was kind of slippery, the grain grimy and in need of a serious wash. The room over all just looked… dirty and old. Strange how one never realized the state of their home until they were coming or going. Even so, with all of its problems he knew he'd miss this place, even if he wasn't gone for long.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

The blond moved over to his door and began down the ladder, ignoring the stares of the other Kokiri peering out of their homes. Though this had been his last day here, nearly all the other children had avoided him, barely a wave or a word from most all day. He hadn't noticed that until now too, blushing a bit under the unseen stares as he made his way toward the exit of the village.

Standing before the bridge out and blocking the way was Mido, hands on his hips and face in a sneer. Link stopped before the boy, both staring one another down. The red-heads fairy sighed and ducked into her owners hat, Navi doing the same.

"Tho now you're leaving. Athter you thailed the Deku Tree. Thailed uth."

Link pressed his lips together in a tight line, not finding the normal urge to fight and snark back at the other boy. He simply stood there, weird feeling bubbling in his gut.

Mido tapped his feet a few more times before crossing his arms and looking away, nose doing the twitching thing it always did when he wasn't pleased. "I can'th beliethe Tharia _thtill_ trustth you, and you're juth going to leathe uth here to dethend ourthelveth from the outthide world."

Link didn't have anything to say to that. 'Trust me' or 'I know what I'm doing' didn't feel like it would cover this. He had gone to save their Guardian, failed, and now was leaving to the outside world to do Goddesses know what. He didn't have a way to defend this, it was just something he had to do.

"Well? What do you hathe to thay for yourthelf?"

"Psst." Navi buzzed from somewhere inside his hat next to an ear, her voice feeling like it was inside his head. "Say goodbye."

The blond boy swallowed thickly and, with nothing to say, moved over two steps to the boy to grab him in a quick hug around the chest, ignoring the others startled intake of air. He just held on, his awkward way of saying good bye to his rival.

"Aw, jeezth… come on man." Mido floundered just above the boys head, freckles now lost to his blushing cheeks. After a few seconds he awkwardly patted the others back, sighing as he did so. "Yeah, look, I'll mith ya, whatever, but you'll be back. And then I'ma make ya pay for all thith, ya hear?"

He nodded into the taller boys chest before pulling back from the hug, smirking up at the red-head. "Catch ya later Mido." With that Link pushed around him to run out toward the bridge, nearly ready to leave for Hyrule.

His rival tapped his foot now in a frantic rhythm, ignoring the stares, points, and giggles of the other Kokiri. "Ridiculouth." His fairy fluttered out of the hat to float in front of his face, her light blurring his view of everything else. Or maybe it was the tears in his eyes. He sniffled and blinked them back, crossing his arms as he began to stomp back towards his house.

—

Link was running across the bridge, blinking back his own tears and sniffling back his own sadness as he ran past Saria, only having noticed the green blur at the last moment and stopping several paces away. He swallowed thickly before turning to face her, the girl clinging the some of the vines making up the bridge, hand curled against her chest as her Fae floating above.

"So you're leaving now."

He walked over toward her, trying to smile even though it was wobbling. Saria gave a smile back, hers equally unstable.

"I always knew that you would leave the forest someday…" The girl closed her eyes and gave a shaky sigh, the sound of the evening bugs beginning their chorus. "But that's okay, because we'll be friends forever."

He sniffled and nodded eagerly at her words, his voice caught in his throat behind a thick lump. He coughed and wiped at his nose, trying in vain to smile through the sadness of his departure.

The green haired girl opened her eyes and hand, holding out a familiar pink instrument to the other Kokiri. "I want you to have this Ocarina, please… take good care of it." She smiled and held it out to him more, waiting for him to take it from her.

Link took a breath as he slowly grabbed the strange object, feeling the cold egg shape heavily in the palms of his hand, his fingers moving to fit perfectly over the holes. He'd seen Saria playing this several times since he could ever remember, playing songs for the other Kokiri or songs to fit with the forests mood.

"When you play my Ocarina… "She took a breath, letting out the trembles in her chest along with it. "When you play my Ocarina, I hope you will think of me." Saria moved over toward Link, much the same he had done with Mido, and embraced him in a powerful hug.

He couldn't drop the instrument, wouldn't, so he only hugged her with one arm, eyes squeezing closed. "I'll miss you." He accidentally let out a tiny hiccup into the girls shoulder, feeling himself fail to contain his sobs.

She was rubbing his back, trying to soothe away his pain and sadness with her comfort and warmth, just like she had always done. "Just come back to visit sometime, kay?" She pushed him back by his shoulders and began to wipe his face clean, bitting her lip in a smile. "And bring me some of that cake too. I mean it."

Link nodded and pulled out of reach of the girl, placing her gift in one of his empty pouches. Blue eyes looked over the Kokiri girl one last time, feeling his tears come back again at the thought of never seeing her again. Before he could think on it further he turned and ran, sprinting toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

Saria smiled as the boy fled from her sight, drying her own wet eyes. "We'll meet again Link… and I'll be waiting."

—

"**You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." **

_**-**_**Andre Gide**

—

AN: So here we are, finally departing from home. Only... what, 30k into the story. And we will be spanning childhood and adulthood. Woo hoo. -facepalm- Thankfully we are getting to a point soon where I wont have to explain everything and jump to five other characters to have the story make sense so he pace should hopefully be picking up.

I wish I had a beta to help me with this, cause as some people know I tend to make mistakes galore in my work, hard as I try not to.

And I have so much more fun writing Link than anyone else, even Sheik. I can't help it, he's so much fun to write, Sheiks too straight forward and Zeldas a little girl at this stage and I was never a little girl but Links a little curious boy who hears that you shouldn't touch stoves but does it anyways and that was so me.

Guys reviews make me infinitely happy, even little ones saying three words! I smile so much, it encourages me to write too. I'm not gonna barter with you, next chapter for reviews kinda thing, but they do make me work much faster...

~IANR636~


	7. To Run on Water

**To Run on Water**

—

"RUN!"

He was sprinting through the shallow water, the mud below constantly sucking down his feet if he didn't keep up his speed. And it was becoming extremely difficult to do so; cloudless sky and summer sun burning down upon him in relentless waves, beetles and sweat sticking to his skin along with the murky mud…

"FASTER!"

…and that voice constantly breathing down his neck.

He was stirring the waters so much that the pond was completely brown and he could feel his own tracks over-imprinted in the silt below. He was over dressed and over worked and still he ran on, muscles screaming and pleading at him to just drop dead in the water.

Just like the dead people in his dream.

"DON'T MAKE ME CHASE YOU LIKE A CHILD!"

But he couldn't, he wouldn't allow himself the pleasure, even of the promised blade that could give chase. All he could think about was the air burning his chest, the waves fighting against his every move, and the skill he would obtain from this training.

To run on water.

Earlier when his teachers told him of this training and its hardships he had thought it worthy the trade of this sacrifice, but now…

"NAMELESS SHADOW, STOP!"

Sheik skidded to a halt on the mud and silt, wheezing beneath his mask and coughing spittle onto the soaked fabric, alone in the water. His peers had come and gone and come and gone again to watch him suffer, mixture between envy at what he was learning and thankfulness at it not being them pushed so hard. He could barely stand but he held, red eyes trained on his current tutor awaiting instructions.

He had to be strong. He was strong. His people had been through worse, so much worse, and the survivors of such times were the ones who had come back alive. He would be one of those survivors, he would rise to the pain and battle and come out a better man. A better warrior. He would _not_ surrender.

But every time he tried to run on the water he would sink in, and every time he sunk in he had to run ten laps, and considering he had been at this since before the sun broke the horizon and he had yet to take a single step above the water's surface and now that it was after the suns zenith, he was beyond exhausted. In fact, words didn't even cover how he felt.

"What a pathetic Sheik you are, how could the Lady have chosen one so unskilled as you."

Being insulted every failing moment wasn't helping matter much either, but he had grown used to that by now. Even since his warrior training began, one thing had been clear; Sheik had no natural talent. Every time he would pick up a new weapon or be taught some new skill, the first times he tried he failed, utterly. His wrists were too weak to throw blades, his arms to scrawny to stand up to blade on blade combat, and his center of balance was completely wrong for walking ropes or walls or in this case water.

"Come here boy."

Sheik mindlessly and numbly obeyed, silent as he trudged out of the slop and up on the shore. This pool had been clear this morning, but now it was a sludge of sweat and shame and dirt and sacrifice. He couldn't even think past his legs lifting and carrying him out of the resisting waters and onto the freeing land, every bone in his lower body screaming in salvation.

But it wasn't to last.

"Are you ready to try again?"

He couldn't say no, to refuse or ask for even a moments rest would be to forfeit. The blond didn't need to look behind him to know the village was watching, all he could do was spit some of the mud from his mouth and turn back to the water, begging the sadistic bastard for more.

Sheik could feel the old man grin, the toothless smile crawling across his sweat slick skin like the leeches.

"Turn and face the water."

His body did so, mind attempting to be anywhere else but here and failing to do so. He watched, helpless in his own mind, as he stood before the swirling pond, awaiting his fate to repeat itself once more.

"It's not about balance, young Sheik." The voice behind him made him want to crawl under a rock or commit unspeakable murder, either would be fine, perhaps both. "And it's not just about agility." The elderly man coughed, the sound of phlegm making the tan boy want to puke; though he had already done that twice today. "You must feel the water in your bones, in your gut, in your veins. It must become you, and you it." Bullshit, all of it. None of that applied here, this was just luck and he didn't have any of that. "Again."

He was going to fall in the water, he was going to fail. Again and again and again. Regardless he took a shuddered deep breath, trying to fight back the tears and whines, pushing them and everything else down to his aching feet. Everything, everything within him had to push against the water, and act as a barrier. He could do this if he just had enough within himself to give.

Red eyes opened to see the water anew, staring it down with loathing. After only a moment Sheik bolted forward to the still water, only a bound away from hitting the muddy depths.

His first foot slid right past the water's surface into the mud at the bottom, catching him and causing him to fall forward, tumbling beneath the pitch shallows.

Even submerged, water filling his ears and senses, Sheik could hear the laughter and the chatter, everyone that had watched taking joy in his folly. Not him though, he was sitting in the blindness, lungs protesting the lack of oxygen and foot pulsing from the twist in the mud. He just stayed there for a moment, siting on the silt floor, taking the momentary hiding place to rest. Chances are that bastard would just make him continue, injured foot and pride be damned.

This had to be about magic, he supposed, which he possessed none of either. He prayed to the Goddesses that this training might be passed over soon, that they might understand some skills couldn't be taught and give him something else to try.

Though no teacher had ever done that before, so it was not a hope Sheik held onto to dearly.

After nearly a minute his capacity for withholding from air ran out and he emerged, thick clumpy water running down from his hair and under his clothes; Sheik was fairly certain he would never feel clean again.

"Get out of the water."

As before the blond mindlessly obeyed, sloshing up onto the small muddy bank while catching his breath. He couldn't see past his drenched and dirty bangs, which was for the best since he would be glaring at the people and possibly his mentor for the day. The last thing he needed was to be beat for his insolence, or worse given up on.

"Go home."

Sheik's breath caught and he coughed, spitting up muddy water, unable to even taste it anymore, voice cracking with adolescence. "Wh-what?"

"Home. Clean up. Bandage that. Rest." The old man began to shuffle away, apparent by listening to his gait. "You'll try again tomorrow." And with that the demon was gone, his suffering for the day at its end.

He fell to one knee, right then and there, hardly able to keep himself still upright. It… it was over. He could finally rest. Sheik was in shock, simply remaining there breathing as the people who had been watching scattered, leaving the blond be to rejoice and suffer in peace.

"Excuse me?" A girl's voice somewhere to the left was addressing him, and he could barely tilt his head her way to acknowledge he had heard her. "I saw what you did today." She sounded sweet, though a bit older than himself, and he could just see her skirt and feet, legs bare and dirty; she was from a menial labor family. "Would you like me to bring some hot water to your house? You know, for a bath?"

Oh… oh wow… a _hot_ bath… that sounded… "Divine." He gave a small chuckle, the action making his ribs hurt. "That would be divine…"

"Yes, right away then. I'll just go—" The girl turned, only the bottom of her body visible from how he kneeled, scratched from brambles showing on her calves. "—and I'll come to your house with a whole pot! Oh, Lady Impas house, excuse me!" And with that she was gone too, off to do what ever; whether she actually fetched him water or not he didn't know, she had no reason to do so, but even so he hoped she would hold true to her word.

Now for the tricky part. His mind mussed as he began forcing every ounce of his will into standing, pushing his abused muscles into rising one last time. If he could just get home then he could crawl around all he wanted, but for the walk there he had to be upright, his pride as a Sheikah would allow nothing else. Eventually he was up and moving, though the pace was less a walk and more of a shuffle, something like what the elderly did. His house was towards the front of the village, while he had been a bit up the mountain trail in one of the springs, in clear sight of every home below. He could even see his now, windows dark in the twilight as he had yet to light the lamps. Sheik still had to clean up, take care of his clothes, food, study, research…

Or maybe he could just get in the front door and pass out on the rugs, caked in mud and body in pain. Yep, that would be acceptable too.

The tan warrior reached the front door and let himself in, ignoring the trail and hand prints of dirt he left literally everywhere as he made his way to the bathroom, peeling off his clothes as he went. Slacks, shirt, bandages, face mask, head wrap; everything fell to the floor with wet splats, the boy uncaring for the moment about the puddles they would leave.

"Sheik? You're in there yes?" A familiar sweet voice echoed from outside the bathing rooms walls outside at the back of the house. "I have the water, may I pour it now?" There was a convenient shoot for just such purposes as bathing and laundry in the wall leading to the outside, emptying directly in the basin before him.

"Yes, please, go ahead." Normally he would be embarrassed about standing there in the nude, the possibility of that strange girl seeing him, but right now all he wanted was hot water to soothe away the day. After he heard a grunt from the girl and water sloshing in metal the liquid began to pour in, steam instantly rising up and bringing a smile to his dry cracked lips.

"I began heating it over an hour ago, I thought he would let you stop sooner." He took a bucket and stole some of the clear water from the basin to move over to the drainage corner of the room, dumping the burning liquid over his head to slosh the mud out of his hair. It burned, especially in comparison to the cold water he'd been dealing with all day and the state of his muscles, but he didn't care. If his skin peeled and turned red he wouldn't mind in the bit, just beyond grateful for the sensation of being clean. "I hope it's not too warm."

"It's perfect." The stream was helping clear up his sinuses and sooth his throat, his voice a little clearer now than just outside. He swished some in his mouth, sneering at the grime coating his teeth and roof of his mouth before spitting it out at the drain. "Thank you… this really means a lot to me."

He could hear the girl placing the metal pot down outside with a sigh. "It's no problem, you train so much harder than most of them." She paused for a minute as he continued the scrub out his hair, the boy almost thinking she had gone. "After all, there's not many of us left now. W-we gotta take care of each other."

Red eyes looked over at the tub of steaming clean water, body practically magnetized to it and he shuffled over. Someone bringing him hot water like this, a caring soul, was such a treat he couldn't even fathom how to thank her for.

Off in the distance he could hear a shout, but was unable to make out what was said; though whatever it was it clearly meant something to the girl as she was quick to grab up the large metal object from the ground with a grunt and the familiar ting of metal. "My brother calls, I have to go. Hadakah ploa Ohied Llamaya." And then with a scuffle of metal and fabric she was gone, off on her way.

'Honored cousin?' Why would she call him honored? She had seen him out there today, a laughing-stock and a failure, and he was going to do it all over again tomorrow too. And the next day. And the next. What was honorable about any of that?

"_You only succeed when you're willing to get up and try again, even though you know you will fail."_

Impa… her random tips of advice echoed back at him at the strangest of times; encouraging sure, but strange.

Sheik took one last deep breath before beginning to level himself above the rim of the tub, hissing at the action of lifting his leg and again as he began to set his toes in the water. With one leg in, skin burning red, he grabbed one more bucketful and set it aside for rinsing off later before he moved fully in, hissing in pain and sighing in pleasure all the while. His whole day, the old man and the impossible training and the stares of his people were all forgotten in the wake of the warmth cradling him.

Later he had a lot to do, from taking care of his clothes to food to research into the Princesses dreams, but for now time was his and his alone, silence and comfort his to enjoy.

Before long the young Sheik lying in the tub closed his eyes and fell asleep, the long day forgotten to pleasant dreams.

—

The crickets under the floor boards were chirping their midnight melody when he awoke, submerged in cooled water in his bathroom, the sun long set and the house now a place of darkness and endless shadows. It took a moment to orient himself and realize he must have fallen asleep in the tub, much of the water having softened his skin, fingertips wrinkled like they had been aged.

"Fark'dwar..." His throat was sore as he slowly sat up from the basin, ignoring the cold air that greeting his skin as water ran off to slosh around, the bugs continuing their chorus below. He hadn't passed out in a bathe in a long time, not since the first night Impa ran him through the mountain trails until the sun rose, he had barely dragged himself home that morning to practically fall into the tub and pass out. Later he woke up in bed, which had embarrassing implications, and so he made sure to care for himself fully since.

He groaned as he stepped onto the bathing room rug, every muscle moaning in protest along with him at having to support his own weight. Not to mention the slight shivers due to his state of wet undress. He sniffled and wrapped himself in a thick towel to shuffle out to the living room, intending to light a fire to chase away the chill of the night. It wasn't really the season for such things yet, but sometimes he felt he was due a little comfort, this being one of those moments. One pruned hand held the towel closed while the other made slow work of moving fresh wood into the fireplace, uncaring as the thrown logs scattered some ashes into the air to sting his eyes. It was cold and dark and he hurt and it was all going to happen again tomorrow he was sure, so might as well get some comfort in while he was able. Like the hot bathe water that girl had brought him. Anyways, _that_ had been a delight, if only he could hope to look forward to such things more often.

Perhaps that was why warriors married, even if they were rarely home, because when they were they wanted someone to take care of them. Were that the case he might have to reconsider his perspective on all things such as spouses and courting; but for now, fire was far more pressing of a topic.

He was forced to drop the heavy towel to pool in his lap as his hands began at the flint stones, cracking them together to force sparks. Sheik had never been terribly gifted in magics, the only kind he would weave was with his music, so where other peers even younger than himself could cast tiny flames he could barely conjure smoke, so he was left to do things the old fashion way. Impa was better than that, of course, she could do anything. So the loss of ability on his part wasn't mourned. Much.

The tinder caught a spark and began to smoke, Sheiks breath encouraging the little ember along until it combusted into a tiny flame, quick to spread as far as it could, emitting a comforting orange glow in his living room. The blond grabbed up the towel again and wrapped himself good as he moved to put on a pot of water, forgoing lighting the stove too to bring it over to hang in the fireplace. His master would say that was lazy, but he believed he could be so every now and again, earning the right with his sweat and tears. And his shame. He had failed today after all, and while it wasn't unusual for anyone to take more than one lesson to learn a new skill, the Sheikah had a feeling this was one skill he could never master.

To walk on water… such an ability had to rely on some core of magic skill, which he possessed none of. How long would they make him try for this one before they realized it too? Or would it be until Impa returned? In that case he had a long look ahead of him, days and weeks of pointless training ahead. All he could do to make any progress would be coming home every night and working on his studies, as well as the research for his master. Which speaking of, he was nearly done, his letter almost finished and ready to maybe be sent out tomorrow when the mail man visited again.

It had been half a week since the letter had first arrived, and his eyes must have reread the supposed vision a dozen times, the imagery nearly engraved enough into his own head that he thought at one point he had dreamed about it as well. It was silly though, he'd just been overworking himself to be finished and done with it, brushing off the dream as the nothing he believed it was. This whole thing with the Princesses supposed prophetic visions and Impa catering to her will was just… beyond his understanding. He understood that Impas role was to be the girls guardian and friend, but why would she encourage such frivolousness? She was such a stern woman, how could she even deal with the dainty dresses and sure to be tea parties with stuffed toys for that matter?

Sheik had no time for such things as a spoiled Hylian royal brat would. The little spare time he had to himself he worked on his music, and even then such a thing was becoming few and far between of an event. He used to steal away to the fields during the nights for hours, forgoing sleep to run his fingers through melodies and craft new ones, only ever finding true serenity when he did so. The slender boy stood to go unplug the basin of chilled water from his bathroom, standing watch for a few minutes as it drained outside, listening to it pour out onto the hard ground. Perhaps he could start finding time again to play, what with the house to himself for such long periods of time, surely he could play here. And he wasn't bad, not even close, so none would be disturbed should they awaken to hear his music in the night.

But for now, his studies and his research would be his time spent, and the little on the side would be for rest… or passing out in tubs. Which, considering how puffy his skin felt, he wouldn't be allowing himself to do again. Sheik moved back to the living room while slipping on a pair of loose beige pants, dropping the towel as he went in favor of a warm fleece blankets thrown over the couch as his cover. Next he bothered to pickup his dirty clothes on the floor, forcing himself to ignore the splats of dried mud, and only gave a half-hearted attempt to make the house looks clean again.

He eyed the many books on the living room rug, open to several different pages with pictures and text, and the two letters side by side, one the well-worn missive from Lady Impa and the other his own nearly completed one, berry red ink-stained into the parchment on what he had already deciphered.

The young Princesses dream seemed to have some relation to a sacred gem the Kokiri tribe held dear, which he could only find mention of in an old fairy tale about how the stone made the plants grow during times of drought, even when there was no water to be had. Though he could find no mention of one ever leaving the forest, apparently their guardians protective spirit prevented such a thing, though whether they would die or not if they left was unclear. Also storm clouds rolling in from the desert, well, that would be easily explained as just that. Due to the dry hear of the sandy lands when air from their was pushed into Hyrule it often created rain storms, and it wouldn't be unheard of for it to create a tempest of great power.

Honestly her whole dream was just… foolish. There was no true hidden meaning to any of it, it was what it was. And what it was was a young girls dream; it meant nothing more than the next.

"Sheik? Sheik you awake?"

He flinched to look up toward the front door, every thought and action forgotten in face of the surprise visitor. Their voice was a poor whisper, and certainly not familiar.

"I saw the fire light though the window, may I come in?"

Sheik stood and silently padded across the rugs to the door, palming the letter opener and scarf off the table before approaching the door. There was audible breathing behind the thin wood, so they weren't trying to disguise themselves (or doing a poor job of it), and he could see the vague shadow of their feet under the door thanks to the full moon light outside. Taking a short quiet breath he tied the fabric into a make-shift mask and grabbed the door to swing it open, blade tucked under his arm but ready to strike out if the need be.

But that never happened.

"Hehe, I was right." A girl in a plain dirty white dress let herself right into his home, pushing past and strolling in as if invited. "You keep strange hours you know."

The blond boy rolled his neck before stepping back inside his own home awkwardly, not ever having his own guest before. Rare was it that Impa entertained a visitor, but he'd never had one before, so the stranger in his home was… unnerving.

She wasn't terribly pretty, as the standard would go, though her heart-shaped face and endless supply of freckles might beg someones opinion to differ. She was covered in smears of dirt and various scrapes, and her white hair was chopped short as a boys and rather haphazardly, like she did it herself. Her smile showed a few missing teeth, and she seemed to be past the age of that being a part of growth, so it was probable they weren't coming back. And she was terrible thin, legs and arms twigs really, not even a healthy layer of fat most who took to the more leisurely life acquired.

And she was missing an arm. Her dress was frilly straps, and just past the shoulder of her left side there was a shiny stump, flesh tight over uneven bone and severed muscle.

_Lost it in the attack a few years back._ He assumed, feeling embarrassed that she had carried the whole large bucket of water for him to his house.

Even with her flaws and off appearance she was a cute girl, and if only her parents would take better care of her, her smile and sweet voice would probably make a few boys of the village blush.

If her parents were even still around.

The white-haired girl sighed before plopping down on his mentors favorite chair — something not even he indulged in — and flipped her head back to smile at him. You may call me Fanadi." She turned back to his fireplace and spotting the work on the floor began to glance it over too, making a little curious humming noise. "What's all of this?"

Sheik, sensing no immediate threat from the strange girl but still not trusting her motives for visiting him in the middle of the night, placed the blade carefully in the hem of his pants and moved over, standing between her and his scattering of books and letters on the floor. He crossed his arms and glared down at the girl. "My work. I thank you for the water earlier, but if you don't need anything…" He trailed off, hoping to make it clear he wanted her gone. It was awkward enough having someone in his home, alone, with him, but he was half-naked and had no desire to deal with some random girl, even one who had been as kind as this one.

Said girl, blushing slightly up at him, stood and made a show of dusting off her clothes. "I came back to check on you earlier, during your bath… "She blushed further and slid out from the confined space of himself and the chair, sliding across the floor with her hand held before her. "But you were asleep I think. Then I was just finishing cleaning in brother's room when I saw your windows glowing, so I knew you woke up." She approached the mantle, which had little in the way of sentimental trinkets, and held more war heirlooms, as she hummed more and eyed everything.

He was… really confused. Why would she come here, even if she saw he was awake? And why help him at all?

She was an orphan, of that he had little doubt, so maybe she was looking for a handout. The thought made Sheik uncomfortable, most of the other orphans had ignored him after Impa took him in, so he felt rather awkward in the face of one less fortunate than himself.

Sheik kept his arms crossed in the defensive, speaking a little more confidently now; or as confidently as a twelve-year-old boy could when dealing with a strange girl of what, fourteen? Fifteen? Hard to tell with how malnourished she was. "If you don't state exactly what you want, I will force you to leave."

The girl turned so fast her skirts spun, making Sheik suddenly freeze. Her cheeks were red and eyes glassy as she began to approach. "I'm being really nice to you, so you should be nice to me, right?" He blinked once she was right in his face, pointer finger right under his nose and making red eyes go slightly cross. Her voice had become more sure, feisty, and quite frankly it scared him. A little. "So what I want… well…"

At this she faltered and instantly drew her hand back, face heating up again as she cleared her throat. How did she not know what she wanted? What was wrong with her?

"I want…" She swallowed thickly and looked side to side, making him slightly wary of her. Then in an instant the girl leaned forward to kiss him on the tip of his nose through the cloth, the strange feel making him back up finally a few steps away. "See? That was all." Sheik was glaring her down and holding his hands over his nose, as if he'd been socked in the face. "No need to be so dramatic."

"_I'M_ DRAMATIC?!" His voice raised for the first time, cracking to a pitch even the girls own didn't reach. His face was turning just as red as her own, the implications of what she just did coming to the forefront of his mind. "GET OUT!" He stomped passed the slightly taller girl to open his front door, standing aside it and motioning out, hands continuing to hold his nose.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, beginning to stroll over. "Fine, fine. Boys can be so timid sometimes." She stopped in the thresh hold of the doorway, preventing him from slamming the door closed. "I'll bring water again tomorrow. Sweet dreams~" She began to sing as she continued on her way into the moon-lite darkness, humming some random melody that he couldn't even bother to identify before he slammed the door shut.

That girl… she _kissed_ him! She had- had the nerve to do such a thing?! To just stroll right into his house and yell at him and bother him and bring him water and KISS HIM!?

Sheik began to pace the floors, trying to fight the blush down from his face. He didn't like it, not one bit, he had no reason to after all. Didn't even know that girl until today, but she just… wasn't his type. Okay, maybe it was nice to just be kissed, maybe, cause it meant someone liked him, but… honestly… The tan boy stopped to tap his foot, eyes darting to the papers scattered on the floor and the fire slowly dying from not being fed. He huffed and tore the cloth off and threw it somewhere into a shadow in the room, not really caring about it. That had been one of _the_ most traumatizing things he'd ever dealt with. Why couldn't Impa have been here to drive the girl away?

And when was Impa returning? Would he be stuck with that girl till then? Would she really return tomorrow night?

Sheik lost his will to work, instead moving over to the floor before the fireplace to begin scooting everything aside with his feet, not caring about the level of disrespect he was currently showing to the books. After he grabbed a thick blanket off from the couch and curled up on the floor before the orange glow, staring into the glowing embers with a pout.

He was still fighting off the rushing blood in his ears and the warmth to his cheeks by the time he fell asleep, trying to not think about stupid little girls and desperately failing to do so.

—

AN: So I might be late on posting? Pretty sure I am, I kinda lose track of time when they make me pull the 14 day straight work. Two weeks long working, 10 hour work days each, somewhere in the middle I was supposed to post, don't think I did. ANYWAYS ENOUGH ABOUT MY HARD KNOCK LIFE HI PEOPLE.

So this stories just about to tip double digit reviews, which is awesome. Also I know, this is ungodly slow, we will very quickly here be getting through Links other two dungeons, Sheiks training shenanigans, and into the future. Which will mean yes, progress is being made toward all things. And yes, all this explaining of back story has a purpose, work with me and stay put, we are going places I promise.

And to those who are kind enough to leave a review or favorite or even follow this, thank you; it's just nice to know that people aren't just reading this and walking away, but enjoying it too. Also to rorufuu; I love how I write Link, and I;m a man who hates his own writing so that's saying something. I really think I write him best of all, might be why I'm easing into the story with him more than the star of our story.

Oh and to make up for the updating I believe I missed, I'll be posting another chapter tomorrow.

~IANR636~


	8. Castle Town

**Castle Town**

—

"Hey kid, you alright?" The creek of metal and the feminine voice the only clues he had to the other person standing there, meanwhile he was hunched over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his rapid breath and slow his racing heart, staring down at worn down and rounded cobbles.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine." Fine. He was not fine. He just spent the whole night running across a strange barren land, fleeing from skeleton monsters hounding him in the night. And by day strange giant plants— Peahats, Navi had called them — sent leafs of death at him and tried to devour him like the gourd plants in the forests did to bugs. He'd screamed at them and fought with them and tried to bribe them to go away but nothing worked, the whole of the trip spent playing cat and mouse while he waited for the draw-bridge to lower.

"Well…" The woman somewhere a bit ahead shifted, metal sliding together uncomfortably again as she did so, turning to begin walking away from the strangely green dressed boy. "Don't cause any trouble… and quit loitering at the gate, you'll block the traffic."

Navi peeked out from the boys hat, trying to stay hidden from the new world. "What traffi— oh, Link! Look!" The boy stopped his panting to look up at the retreating form, blue eyes going wide at the sight of their armor and bright tabard. "A knight. Wow!"

He smiled at the sight, amazed to have been spoken to by the noble protector. Even if the suit sounded in need of a greasing up close, the metal shined with care, and the red cape barring the crest on her back was pristine and perfectly stitched, the last thing he saw as she turned a corner up ahead.

"That's so cool Link, we met a Knight!" Navi jingled inside of his hat, only to duck back inside as a cart came rolling past, Link barely avoiding his foot being run over to fall backwards on his behind. The huge wooden device, which he'd only seen in picture books, was lead by a gray speckled horse, and on top of the vehicle rode an older man and a young girl, the later singing a soothing melody. They rolled past without even a glance his way, horse giving a whiny as they turned the same corner as the Knight had just before. "Heh, so, traffic…"

"Yeah…" Link pushed himself up, dusting off his backside before moving the follow where everyone was headed, though he wasn't in any rush. All around him were these perfectly flat wall buildings, smooth and textures and in every color but his familiar green. There were windows with shiny surfaces he could see right through, and real doors with metal handles. On top of homes were strange stacks were smoke rose out, and the smell of the world was both offensive and exciting to the Kokiri boy. His feet scraped across the smooth worn cobbled like river stones, the bits of moss growing between them his little reminder of home.

If forest life would thrive here, even in such a small way, then it must be an alright place.

Link turned the corner and was instantly assaulted by something more grand than buildings or cobbles or wagons, eyes going wider than ever and jaw going slack.

"Oh… my… Goddesses…"

People. Everywhere. Different dress and colors and heights and sizes and purposes, they all filtered about like in a dance, moving past one another perfectly where each one seemingly should have been an accident waiting to happen. Women with little dogs were peering down their noses at shop vendors, looking at the jewelry laid forth for them to purchase. Men were haggling with vendors and one another for everything from food to tools to supplies like cloth and wood. A smith smashed his hammer down upon an anvil, shaping something round as his helper boy in the back stuck something just like it in ice water, the steam hissing to match the level of voices in the square.

"What do you mean you're out of herring! I see it _right_ there!"

"You see nothing!"

"Liar! I need that for my sirs feast tonight!—"

"Does this come in green?"

"Red?"

"No GREEN."

"Why would a garnet come in green?"

"They exist I'll have you know!—"

"Mommy can I _please _have the toy?"

"No, it was your birthday two months ago, you don't get anything again for a long time."

"No but you don't understand mommy, everyone else is getting them, please oh please?"

It was the loudest thing he'd ever heard, an uncountable number of voices fighting to be heard, the volume quickly beginning to hurt his head. Link clutched his hands over his head and moved off to the side near some crates to try and hide. But it wasn't working, and now he couldn't see anything, the crowd of people too tall for himself to see anything through and over. Even if it was amazing and new right now it was scary and made him rather unsure of what to do. He was supposed to find a castle and a princess through all of this?

"Link, the crates." The boy looked sideways at the closed wooden boxes, wondering what his Fae was getting at. "Climb up."

He was suddenly very thankful once again to have his fairy companion and he swung himself up awkwardly to climb, careful not the scrape off the scab over his knee as he did so. At the top if he stood he could see over everyone's heads, marveling at all the sights and people once again. It wasn't as many as he thought, but it was still more than he'd ever thought he would see, and all of them were dressed so funny too.

Off to the left were the food vendors, some cooking fresh to sell food on the spot, others selling the ingredients for people to take home and do so. To the right were the wares, from clothes to tools and even a shop with the doors open where some men were carrying a really plush looking chair out. At the back were some Knights and Soldiers, standing guard over a road that was hidden by hanging banners. And in the middle…

A fountain, with several kids playing. Including the girl he'd seen on the cart before.

Kids. That was a good start. Maybe they could help him out, they were certainly better to deal with than all these adults.

He hopped off the crates and spotting a gap in the crowd began to push through, forcing his way through fluffy dresses toward the bubbling water ahead. He emerged a moment later, slightly more frazzled then he expected, and took a moment to replace the hat that guarded his friend on his head and re-tighten his belts, glad to have passed through the crowd. A girl giggled up ahead and he stopped to look, seeing the red-head from the wagon waving at him. Link smiled and returned the wave, walking over.

"Hi!" He finished tapping his feet back into his boots, all the while staring at the strange girl. "My name's Link."

"I'm Malon, it's nice to meet you Link." Her cream and print skirt swayed and she moved to the melody in her head, the boy thinking it was the same one as before. "You dress funny. Tehee."

"Me?" He looked down at his tunic, straightening it out and brushing off a bit more of the dust. Then he looked over at her skirts, layered with patches and tied on fabrics. "Well you look funny to me."

The girl smiled at him. "You're not from around here are you?"

Link shook his head and put his hands on his hips, smirking back at her. "Nope, I'm from the forest."

"The forest?" Malon stopped her swaying, tilting her head as she gave the other boy another once over. "I've never heard of anyone living near the forest before. What's your town called?"

"Not near, in." He put his hand up on his hat, smirking at the girl seeming more and more impressed before him. "Wanna see my fairy?"

"Link!" Navi whispered in his hair and tugged at some of the golden strands, making the boy cringe. "No showing me off, fairies aren't normal in the outside world, okay?"

"Oh, okay… uhmm…" Link dropped his hands to his sides, sniffling at the lost opportunity to show off. "Sorry, but I can't—"

"Oh no I understand!" Malon tilted forward right in his face, smiling at the new and interesting boy. "You can't show her with so many people, I get it." Malon looked back and forth to see if anyone was listening in before leaning in to speak with the boy more closely, her proximity causing him to blush. "Maybe later when no ones around you can show me, kay?"

"Oh, o-okay then." Malon nodded before another boy came over in a blue cap to tug her over to play, leave Link be once again.

"I can't believe you agreed to that. I'm not some trinket to show off ya know." Navi buzzed inside his hat, a voice only he could hear.

The smell of the food cooking was really making his mouth water so he began over toward it, following his nose, and ignoring the fairies worries. "Don't sweat it Navi, she seemed nice. And she's probably never even seen a fairy before." He pushed through the crowd of peoples legs and skirts, making way toward where he could hear food popping over a fire; something rare back home. And the smell was something new and amazing too, deep and more spicy than anything he'd ever smelled before. "Is this that cake you were talking about."

Navi peeked her head out for a moment to sniff the air before gasping and diving back under, coughing under his hat. "Uhm, no, Link, it's not. It's—"

"GET YOUR HOT BEEF SPITS HERE! FRESH OFF THE FIRE, FIRST BATCH OF THE DAY! FINEST FROM THE LOVELY HEIFERS OF LON LON RANCH!"

"Hey, he said fresh, and it smells good, that's good enough for me!" Link pushed the last guy a bit to the side to be at the front, smiling up at the man behind the stand. Hanging out of his reach were several perfect sticks, striped of their bark and instead skewered through chunks of brownish red lumps, each dripping with fresh grease. "Can I have one?"

The chubby man smiled down at him, holding out his hand down to the blonds level. "That'll be just 10 rupees my boy! You… do have money don't you? You can go ask your parents if you don't."

"Oh no, I have money!" Link pulled out his wallet and held it aloft, smiling as it jingled and the mans eyes seemed to twinkle in response. "Ten you said?" The boy began to fish inside before grabbing two blue's from inside, holding them eagerly out to the man, ignoring the fluttering of his Fae going on inside his hat. The man quickly made the offered payment disappear in a flash of his hand, the next moment handing over a steaming spit. "Thank you!"

"And thank you!" The man straightened back up to the crowd and began to shout his wares again, while Link moved off and out of the crowd once again.

He pushed himself up onto a crate and sat, finally resting for the first time since his all night run. But that didn't matter right now, what mattered was the divine smelling food before his nose, looking nothing like anything he'd ever seen before. The texture reminded him of splintered wood, but it was clearly not, dripping juices in tiny greasy splatters on the ground below. "Looks good right?"

"No, Link, it does _not_. It's—"

The boy couldn't wait another moment, bringing the strange new food to his mouth for a wide bite, teeth eagerly sliding a whole chunk off to chew. It was… the most amazing thing ever. Tender and juicy and flavorful and oh the flavor! Link began kicking at his seat and humming in appreciation around the food, face even hurting with how much his cheeks wanted to smile and keep chewing at the same time. Nothing was better than this. Nothing. Who needed cake and cookies when you could have _this _forever? He would gladly run through the world finding enough rupee's every day to buy these. "Oh Navi, you gotta try this!" He spoke around a full mouth, uncaring of the juices running down his chin. "Hey, what's a heifer anyways?"

Navi shuddered and sighed from within the hat, shaking her head at the oblivious boy. "It's cow. Dimwit."

Link continued to chew, bobbing his head back and forth at the symphony of flavors. "Cow?" He swallowed the food, licking his lips at the prospect of the next one. "Like those black and white things?" How could such animals craft these? However they did so was genius, maybe they were culinary masters, who knew what else they made?

"Yes Link, the black and white thing." From within her dark confines, lit only by her own blue glow, she listened as after another second the boy took another big bite, causing her to groan and smash her head into his skull. "Meat Link! You're eating MEAT!"

…Meat? _This__…_ was meat? His chewing slowed, the boy holding the half chewed bite in his mouth between his tongue and cheek. "You mean… the cow's didn't make this?"

"No, Link. The Hylians made this out of the cows. Get it?"

The bow swallowed heavily, suddenly very aware of the greasy food sliding down his throat. Meat… _this was __**meat**_. How… how could he have… How could it taste so… It was wrong… Wasn't it?

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Well, go down the alley then. And throw this away. Honestly, you're hopeless without me…"

Link did just as she said, dropping the remaining piece on the stick as he hopped off the crate and turned down the dark hallway, ducking his head into a piece of chipped pottery to retch. As good as it tasted going down it tasted horrid coming back up, the image of the fat animals he'd seen in Saria's books playing in the blonds mind as he continued to cough them up, tears and snot running down his nose. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm—" He continued to cough up chewed pieces of the still hot food, trying not to think about the fact that this had once been a living creature.

Navi couldn't leave her confines, the possibility of being spotted, specially in the dark, was too great. All she could do was listen as the boy continued to throw up his stomach contents, crying and moaning as he did so. She began to pet his hair, attempting to sooth him, hoping he would be able to finish soon. "It's fine, just… don't do it again and I'm sure Farore will forgive you."

He nodded as he coughed the last of the vile taste from his mouth, spitting and wiping his face off on the bottom of his tunic. The boy tried to wipe the remaining bile from in his nose out but it was stuck, leaving a horrid flavor in the back of his throat. "Wa-water. I need water."

"Well I think a vendor was selling drinks, but this time listen to me before you try to inhale something, okay?"

The blond rubbed at his face, cheeks red from the tears and stress he endured in the last minute. As he was doing so something ran into his back, pushing him to the ground jarring his hands and knees.

"Oh! I am ever so sorry! Uhm, oh, I mean…" The voice from the person that hit him stuttered, drawing in on itself as he moved to stand. "Sorry. Really. Are you alright?"

Link looked over at the figure, no taller than he was and completely covered in a thick dark red cloak. He tried to bend over and peer up to see the face, but the shadows were too strong. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

"Yes, I am… I'm well." A little pale hand darted up to the owners face, a small gasp coming from what was certainly a girl. "What is that atrocious smell?"

"Huh? Oh…" Link scuffed his boot at the ground with a guilty grin, hooking his thumb over toward the pottery. "I puked. Wanna see?"

"My, no, thank you, but I'll pass." The girl coughed lightly and dropped her hand, though he could hear her take shallower breaths. "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, I just need a drink. Know where I can get anything good?" The boy turned back to face the square, not liking the prospect of joining the people once again.

The covered girl moved up to stand beside him, staring out into the square as well. "Maybe, our water is not so pure, but the juice is good. It's apple season you know." She took the others hand in a flash and began marching back out into the sunlight, dragging him along. "Let's find it! I haven't had any apple juice yet this year!"

Link followed as she moved to enter the crowd, only to be pushed back by an older kid moving through. "Oh! Hey!" But no one looked her way, not even caring at the two children wanting to get through. "EXCUSE ME! GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"

Someone turned to look at the shouting girl but only shook their head and moved along, everyone continuing to do whatever they pleased.

"Yeah, I hated it at first too." Link moved up along side the girl, staring at the crowd with equal ire. If only there was something they could use to push their ways through… oh, hey! "I got it!" He let go of the smaller hand to unhook his shield, securing it on his arm before grabbing her hand again with his free one. "This should do." And without waiting to hear the girls protests he began to shove into the crowd, pushing their way easily through.

Up above people were shouting and cursing down at them but Link didn't care, laughing as he forced their way through. The cloaked figure at his back pushed in close to practically hug him as he walked, trying to avoid touching the people as much as possible. Only a moment later they made it out the other side of the wall of people, the boy and girl breathing heavily after the short exercise.

"I can't believe that worked." Link sighed and re-slung his shield, turning to look at the hunched over girl, worry blooming in his chest. "Hey, you alright?"

"You… you are… so…" She snapped up to shove a fingers point in his face, his blue eyes going cross at it. "So… silly!" She drew her hand back to stifle a giggle. "I can't believe you thought of that!"

"Heh." He rubbed at the back of his neck, grinning at the girls laughter. The adults here were scary and rude, but so far the kids were nice; well, the girls anyways.

The girl sighed and sat fully back up, dropping her hands into the cloak once again. "Oh, over there." She pointed and he looked, seeing a vendor stall where a short older woman was handing a pregnant woman a sealed gourd with a smile, several metal pots with ladles on her cart. The cloaked girl moved to walk over and he followed, the woman eying them as they approached.

"Hello little ones, would you like to try some of my strawberry and rhubarb juice today?" She was past her prime and out of shape, short body not helping matters, but she seemed much more friendly than the meat vendor had.

"No, we would both like some apple juice please." The girl searched within her cloak before removing a purple rupee, a color Link hadn't seen before. "Will this do?"

The woman gasped before grabbing the purple away, biting into it and pulling it back to inspect. "My yes, this will do plenty!" She was quick to grab two large gourds and fill them with an amber liquid, sealing them closed and handing them over to them both. "Containers are on the house dearies, take good care of them, and come back anytime for a refill!"

The mysterious girl grabbed them both and turned to him, holding one over. "Here, trust me you'll like it. We get the apples straight from the ranch."

"Apples… aren't meat, right?" He uncorked the sturdy container with a pop to sniff inside, the sour sweet smell tickling his nose.

The girl giggled and took a tiny sip, sighing happily at the taste. "You're so silly, and dressed so oddly too…" Now that they were in the sunlight she was actually taking a moment to look the other over, suddenly silent as she did so.

"It's safe. Apples are fruit, like the crab fruits in the trees." Navi's voice was insignificant in his hat, barely discernible through the fabric and over the rabble of the town.

He shrugged and went to take a sip, a little more careful now that he'd had the whole meat incident. It was sweeter than he expected and tasted just like fruit, bringing an instant smile to his face. He was quick to drink some more, both hands holding the container above his head as he downed the juice to rid himself of the taste of the remaining meat.

"You… don't happen to be from the forests, do you?"

Link stopped drinking, wiping at his mouth with his wrist as he turned to the girl peering at him, awaiting an answer. "How did you know?"

"There you are."

The girl in the cloak froze while Link turned to see the strange woman standing overhead, arms crossed and face more serious than any he'd seen. She had hair pale like snow and eyes red like the rabbits, skin a pale color like flowers and was dressed in partial plate armor and thick clothes. Over all not a single thing was out-of-place on her, no loose hanging clothes and hair to move without her permission; Link could tell right away that this was an authority figure not to mess with.

A thin eyebrow raised as she stared down at the girl, whose own head was ducked below the hood of her cloak. "What did you think you were doing?"

"I saw the light this morning." The girls voice, where before it had been strong and sure, was now small and guilt-ridden. "The one from the forest. I wanted to see…"

Link was confused, but guessed this was the girls mother or sister, who was now turning on him to eye him. She remained silent for a moment as she looked him over, seeming to take everything in and think it over. The woman said nothing to him as she turned back to the girl. "We will speak of this back at the castle Princess, come along now."

Wait, Princess? "You're a Princess?" The blond boy turned to his cloaked friend with surprise, feeling the fairy twitching in his hat with an equal take on things.

"Well… not _a_ Princess…" Little hands moved to take down the hood, revealing a sweet face with big blue eyes, tied and laced hair perfectly groomed with ribbons throughout. A tiny smile graced her little lips, "I'm _the_ Princess."

Around them the crowd began to slow and a murmur began to build, a Kokiri a Princess and an imposing woman at the center of the attention.

The womans hand moved out to place itself securely on the smaller girls shoulder, holding her to make sure she was in contact and safe.

The Princess turned to Link, smiling sweetly at him. "I'm glad I found you." She unslung the gourd from her wrist and passed it to him, the boy mindlessly taking the offered item. "Now you need to find me." The girl winked before shifting a step sideways to be beside the woman. "In the garden." She threw out as a loud whisper, sticking out her tongue cutely.

The silver-haired lady looked down at him once again, eyes searing deep into himself and filling him with a sense of déjà vu. "We'll be waiting." For the first time since he'd seen her the woman moved, wrist raising high suddenly to throw down toward the ground. Then everything became a flash of sound and light, the boy and all others forced to close their eyes to block it out. The murmurs picked up again and his blue eyes opened, only to see the spot previously occupied by the two empty, they were gone.

"Did you see that?"

"She gave him something…"

"What a strange boy."

"And that blood eye too, I've heard rumors about her."

"How could she let the Princess get away down here, something could have happened!"

"Yeah, something, like this filthy street boy."

Link stared down at the drinks in his hands, mind trying to grasp what just happened. He'd met… the Princess! That was what he was here for, and he… what was he supposed to do when he met her anyways? And then he made friends with the farm girl, he was supposed to show her Navi later. And he tried meat, and then apple juice, and he had fought scary and strange monsters out in Hyrule and… He had left home. It had certainly been a long and eventful day.

"Link, I think you should go." The voice below his hat whispered and he looked up, seeing the group of adults staring at him, and not looking too friendly. The boy thickly swallowed before backing up, feeling like everyone was trying to close in on him.

"Hey, kid."

At that he turned and bolted down an alley, ignoring the shouts at his back as he ran and turned corners, running away from the crowds and sounds, ignoring the echoes of voices off stone as he got himself lost in the maze of homes. After a minute he felt confident in losing them, stopping to catch his breath.

Navi emerged from his hat, signifying that the area was clear, and fluttered in the air before him to stretch her wings. "You gotta be tired by now Link."

And he was, the boy was exhausted, everything since the leaving the forest coming crashing down upon his shoulders, making him hunch over. He balled up a fist to rub his eye, yawning around his next words. "Where can I sleep?"

Navi flew up high to peek over the rooftops, scanning the buildings for something while he leaned over and took a moment below. The long day was finally catching up with him, just like the long day inside the Deku Tree, and he suddenly couldn't think about much else but a place to rest his body.

"Okay, I see an Inn." The blue Fae flew back down to hover in front of him, looking him over before giving a tsk. "We should have hit that up hours ago. Though, I suppose, you wouldn't have met the Princess." Which had to have been fate, she was sure the royal daughter didn't just leave her home all the time and befriend Kokiri in the market. Navi dived under his hat again and tugged at his hair to get him to move. "I'll guide you to a bed, come on sleepy head, let's get going."

Link yawned again and followed his partners directions through the twists and turns of the castle town. He wasn't sure what an Inn was, but if it meant a warm place to sleep he would gladly take it. He would deal with all of this when he woke up, for now it was time to rest.

—

AN: I don't have anything to say really, besides Hi. Had a tremendously horrible day and I just am gonna go crawl into that bottle of vodka I keep by my bed and play Call of Duty and shout nonsensical things at 13 year old boys. Because that's my therapy.

I'm gonna start aiming for Sunday night updates after this. I'm marking my phones calender to remind me, so let's hope I pay attention to it.

~IANR636~


	9. Break In

**Breaking In**

* * *

"Hey, kid! You can't play here, I told you to go elsewhere!"

"But I just—"

"No 'buts', get out of here, I'm busy!"

_That_ was one of the biggest lies Link had ever heard, and the first by an adult. The guard, in fact all the guards, were just standing around, doing absolutely nothing. Except blocking his attempts to get into the castle that is.

Over a day ago, he wasn't entirely sure, the Kokiri boy had made his way to a resting house, and thanks to the nice old man and woman running it he had been allowed to check out a room and sleep in. They even served him breakfast and dinner, though he 'politely' declined the meats. Eggs were good though, and the milk, but he could have gone without the vegetables…

"Would you stop day dreaming and leave before the guard carries you out? Again?" Navis hushed whisper from beneath his hat drew him from the lovely memory of the food and he turned and left, ignoring the muttering of the armored soldier at his back. "How many times have I told you, you can't just go charging in and diving under bushes and hiding in the shadows, cause clearly that doesn't work."

"It works in the stories." The Kokiri child sniffled as he approached the tree just out of sight of the first set of guards, leaning against it with a sigh. "There's always this one guy that can just sneak everywhere and scale walls and walk on water and take down everyone without them ever knowing and—"

"Yeah yeah, that's nice, but _you're_ clearly _not_ that guy." Navi fluttered out from beneath his hat to get a breath of fresh air, always complaining about the cramped space of being stuck in his cap all day. That and she had forced him— basically threatened really —that he wash his hair all the time, the boy having done so more in the last two weeks then he had in a whole year. It was ridiculous, and had to be unhealthy. "We have to think of something else…"

"So you _do_ have a fairy!"

Navi jingled and swiftly darted under his hat while Link spun to meet the voice, only to find the farmer girl from the other day. Her eyes were wide and aglow as she stared at him, making him feel a little put on the spot.

"May I see it again?" Malon smiled prettily at him, as if asking his permission. It wasn't really his place, as Navi had so told him after his initial meeting with the girl, but…

"Navi, can you—"

"No, tell her to go away, we're busy!"

Malon tilted her head and made a pouty face. "What are you busy with?"

Link felt she seemed really friendly, more so than the guards, and had no problems opening up to another kid such as himself. "We're trying to get in the castle, we want to go see the Prin— OW! Don't pull my hair!" Link slapped his hand on top of his head, rubbing at the clearly offended spot.

"HEY! WATCH IT!" A blue light zipped out of the danger zone of being smacked flat, settling on Links nose to berate him to his face. "You're gonna kill me one of these times if you're not CAREFUL!"

The blond boys nose scrunched up as he made a face at the shouting and bright light, unable to see anything beyond it. "Well maybe if you stopped making me BALD we wouldn't have an issue!"

"Heheh, do you two always fight?" Both of them turned their attention back to the third-party, who was swaying her hips and swishing her thick layered dress back and forth. "It's adorable."

Navi seemed startled to remember the girl was right there, moving to dart behind one of her partners long ears, silent now that she had obviously been seen. Fairies weren't generally supposed to be spotted by people, not that it was forbidden, but they weren't supposed to just go frolicking around freely. Horror stories passed between her kind of Hylians trapping them in jars for good luck and never letting them out every again fueled her main fear, keeping the blue Fae cowering and clinging to the blond boys earlobe.

No way she was getting stuck in some jar.

Link, completely forgetting about the argument, smiled at the red-headed girl easily. "Not always, she helps me a lot. Though we're kinda stuck right now." He put a hand up to offer a perch for his tiny friend, looking sideways at the glow just out of sight. "Come on Navi, don't be shy."

Malon nodded enthusiastically at the words, placing her hands behind her back. "I promise I wont hurt you little Pixie, so don't be scared."

Navi grumbled under her breath, words about not being scared that only Link suspected he could hear, but after that she slowly floated out to his cupped palm. Her tiny body stood on the uneven ground, hands wrapped and holding steady around his curled up fingers as she peered over the edges at the girl. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried it Missy."

The girl gave a cute short laugh at that, leaning over to get a closer look at the shaking Fae. "No, probably not, unlike you I have no magic. You could probably turn me into a toad before I could snatch you up."

Link could feel his partner shaking, feeling a little bad about her fear, even though he didn't understand it. "Yep, that she could, right Navi?"

Her light dimmed a little to a more comfortable hue, though she still held on for dear life to his fingers. "Yeah, so, don't try anything."

Malon stood back up, winking at her as she spoke. "Promise, no evil stuff from me." Deep blue eyes looked back up at him, easy smile as she began to sway once again. "So you're trying to break into the castle?"

Link nodded, looking over toward the bend in the road which lead to the first gate. "Yeah, but no matter how hard we try, we can't get in." He had met the Princess in town the other day, and her guard, both practically inviting him to come visit, but now he couldn't even make it to the front gardens. The least they could have done was told these people; wasn't that what she did when she invited anyone else to her home?

"Hmm, I see your problem…" Malon didn't even think about why a Kokiri boy would want to get in, not old enough to understand how strange that was. After all, she was here to get into the castle too, only she had a fool proof method of doing so. "Well, this is your lucky day then."

Clear blue eyes watched as the girl pulled the strange bronze pin from her tied scarf, flipping it over and showing the back of it to him. The symbol her recognized from so many flags and stones around town shown back at him.

"This, silly, is my ticket it. Follow me." Malon spun on her heels and headed of the to the gate, Link seeing no harm in following along, Navi not voicing a distaste for the situation either. They were all out of ideas after all, this one couldn't hurt. "Excuse me sir." The small girl approached the guard, the very same that had reprimanded him, the man behind the helmet sneering. "We'd like to get in please." She held her metal broach up high, standing steadfast and sure.

"Eh? Oh, the ranch girl." The soldier turned aside to spit something black from his mouth, wiping at the remaining spittle on his chin. "Your father still hasn't left yet huh." He didn't sound surprised. "Yeah, alright, but not the boy." The guard stepped aside to let her in, stare trained on Link instead.

"He is our new stable boy, and I need him." Malon stated matter of factly, placing her hands in her hips and glaring up at the man. "You must let him in with me, unless you want a poor little girl to carry those heavy crates all by herself."

Link watched as the man pulled something dark from a pouch at his side and shoved it in his mouth, showing sickly looking rotted teeth as he did so. He didn't seem happy with the girls ultimatum, shifting noisily in his suit before deciding. "Yeah fine, whatever."

The blond boy smiled and skipped up to the farm girl, walking by her side was they made their way with ease past the first gate and up the road to Hyrule Castle.

"I do this all the time." She flipped her thick curls behind her shoulder, walking proudly beside him, leading the way along the single dirt road.

"That's so cool, why did they let you in though?" He crossed his arms behind his head, sauntering along side the farm girl, feeling just as smug as she was.

"When you supply the castles whole crop and cattle, they tend to let you just go about your business. We can walk around the Castle to all the same places the help can."

Navi was hiding under his hat again, having darted to do so the moment he began trailing after Malon, but she was peeking out now to look around the gardens. Flowers of all kinds and colors were in full bloom in the sunlight, droplets of dew making their petals and leaves sparkle. "It's very pretty here, smells nice too."

He nodded at that, eyes trying to take in all the sights through the dappled shadows of trees. He could see guards standing amidst the flowers every so often, or their silhouettes at least, and at once point he could hear the waking sounds of a stable just out of sight, horses whinnying as Malon commented on the fact that they must be saddling them for a morning ride. The thin dirt pathway slowly gave way to white stone, foliage thinning out to well trimmed grasses only dotted with the occasional shrub or small pruned tree. As pretty as it all was, it felt somewhat fake to him, nothing allowed to grow naturally, everything trimmed and planted by color and type, flowers kept in neat little rows and orders like soldiers; he much preferred his home woods with their wild growth.

"My pa and I arrived yesterday." Malon drew him from his observations, the girl speaking quietly as they walked along. "He always goes to the castle to make the delivery by himself, he says it's cause he doesn't like the thought of a little girl alone with all these soldiers." In Links opinion that shouldn't be a concern, she seemed to handle herself just fine at the gate. "But really it's because he meets with this woman." The girl rolled her eyes and dropped her arms to swing them at her sides, looking over at him with an indifferent shrug. "He thinks I don't know, but he's no so bright, ya know?"

Link nodded slowly at the question, not really understanding much as he just agreed to her words. "So he's meeting with his friend?" Blue looked back up at the steadily growing castle walls, no longer able to take in the whole place without turning his head. "Bet there's lots of neat games to play in there."

Malon snorted as they approached the second gate, holding aloft her badge again for inspection. "Oh, they're not playing games. Not any you and I would find fun." The men opened the gate and allowed them both through without issue. Just beyond was a bridge which lead into the main entrance, lined by a whole group of men and woman in scary armor, though Malon lead them off to the side down another path along the moat. "Anyways they stay awake all night so he ends up sleeping in till midday, so I'm here to get him now since I don't feel like waiting." She looked over at Link with a smirk. "Plus, saw you head this way, and I still wanted to meet your fairy."

"I'm not _his_ fairy." The voice below the hat mumbled, but other than that made no appearance. "I have a name too."

"Yes, Navi the Fairy, I'm very sorry." The red-head nodded in reprimand of herself, turning the corner and letting herself through a small cast iron gate, just ahead a pile of crates stacked oddly. Malon sighed. "Here we go…"

Link followed curiously as Malon sauntered up to the wooden boxes, each burned on the side with the curious symbol he had seen on her broach, as well as what looked like the head of a bull. As they passed by them the sound of snores became swiftly apparent, both the blond and the red head standing on their toes to look over the stacks. In the middle of several boxes, almost piled around like a fort, lay a sleeping man, hair greasy and skin covered in a layer of sweat and dirt. His overalls and shirt were stained with various color blotches here and there, but his shoes seemed pretty clean and new, sans a bit of muck at the bottoms.

Malon sighed through her nose, steadying her palms flat against a crate and beginning to push it aside. Link quickly got the idea and moved to help her do so, the job far easier with both of them at it. He whispered to the girl, not feeling comfortable disturbing the stranger sleeping. "This him?"

Malon nodded with a small grunt as they finished moving the crate aside, both wordlessly moving onto the next one and moving it too, thankfully easier since this one was clearly empty. "Lazy bumpkin he is, leaving his own daughter in town all alone." They finished clearing the path to the resting man, Malon crossing her arms and scowling down at him. "Honestly, after having a daughter you'd think he'd grow up by now."

He smirked and stood by her side, looking down at the man.

"HEY!" He gave a start as Malon shouted down at the man, glaring at him even though he couldn't possibly know so. And all her father did was roll over with several snorts, facing away from them and giving the two a view of his behind, which had clearly fallen into something foul working in stables earlier. Link gave a snort though Malon seemed far less amused, grumbling under her breath as she kicked him with her booted foot. Still nothing more than sleepy mutters from the man, clearly a heavier sleeper than Link; something he hadn't thought possible.

"Link, we should get going, gotta look for Princess Zelda." Navi whispered from beneath his hat, still not feeling comfortable leaving her safe haven.

"Gotta help Malon first." He whispered back, unknowing that the girl heard, as he took out the ocarina Saria had given him. To wake a heavy sleeper, this was something the forest girl had done often to the boys of the village, forcing them from their bed when she felt they slept in too late. He could feel the girl watching him as he put the instrument up to his mouth, still unused to the strange cool feel of the clay. Blue eyes glanced over at Malon and thankfully she got the idea, placing her hands tight over her ears and giving him a nod in return. Link took a deep breath, chest expanding enough to make the baldric across his chest hurt.

Navi shifted beneath his hat. "Oh boy…"

With all his might the Kokiri release his breath into the instrument, all fingers pressed down over the holes save one, producing the loudest shrillest note he had ever heard be made, the piercing and ear drum shattering sound making a flock of birds dart away into the skies.

After a full ten seconds of the sound, both of the children's eyes squeezed shut, he ran out of air and stopped the abuse with a gasp, dropping the instrument from his lips. Malon opened her eyes and dropped her arms, both of them looking down at the man at their feet.

Still fast asleep.

"…That's amazing." Link really was rather entertained by it, how he slept through such a sound… but still that continued the dilemma going of how, exactly, they were to wake him up. He turned to the girl, ignoring her angered look. "What did you use to do to wake him up?"

"Cook food, shove a chicken in his bed…" The sound of metal clanking on stone drew their attention to a soldier peaking around the corner from where they'd come, clearly curious about the sound. "I guess… I have no choice but to wait for him to wake up." The soldier, obviously having been witness to these proceedings before, shrugged and turned back to wherever he came from. The ranch girl sighed and moved over to the full crate, hopping up with ease and sitting down, legs swinging off the side.

Link approached her, peering up into her angry and disappointed face. He felt bad, but there was little he could do, unable to cook anything right here or now (or ever) and no having a chicken on hand. "Will you be alright? I can wait with you."

Malon smiled down at him, leaning forward to put and elbows on her thighs and her face in her palms. "Nah I'm used to it, it's not the first time this has happened and it certainly wont be the last. Oh, I almost forgot." She hitched her thumb of her free hand to the doorway behind them, Link leaning around her to see. "That leads to the kitchen, then to the halls, then the gardens, and if you can make it past all the guards you might be able to find the Princess." He stood straight again to look up at her. "I hear she stays in the gardens more often than not; considering that she's blessed by Nayru she sure does act like a child of Farore sometimes."

He smiled. "Thank you. When I'm done I'll come check, and if you're still here I'll wait with you." After all, no one should be left waiting alone, this place seemed rather boring out here.

"Thanks, I'll be waiting then." Malon smiled and held out her hand, pinky extended, asking for a promise from him. Whether it was to return or meet again didn't matter, and he knew the custom, returning the gesture as they shook on it.

Link wasn't one for goodbyes, so he moved past the girl at that and headed to the door, grabbing at the handle only to be surprised when it actually gave way and opened. With one last look back over his shoulder at the ranch girl, who was currently humming, he stepped into the darkened room, closing the door with a gentle click behind him.

* * *

It was a pantry room, from one corner of the room lined with various stacked barrels to the other side lined with vegetables and various jars of things on dusty shelves, but other than the food stuffs the room was empty. In fact, other than the light from under the door he just came through, he couldn't really see.

"Navi…"

"Yeah, I gotcha." The Fae slowly crept out from his hat, blue iridescence illuminating the small room with a soft glow. She looked about for a bit, though she didn't move far from her partner, clearly still uncomfortable even without anyone else around. "Okay, she said kitchen, halls, gardens, guards, then Princess. Right?" Navi looked back down to find Link opening an air-tight jar of jam with a pop, shoving his fingers inside to take a mouthful. She sighed. "Right. And that's stealing by the way."

Link sucked on his fingers, speaking around them at her. "Mm mot fteawing." He removed his hand and began wiping the appendage down on the side of his tunic, trying to speak again. "They have, like, fifty of them anyways."

"More like seven." Navi shook her head and bobbed over to the only other door, waiting as Link followed after. "It's day time, so I bet everyone's busy. Still, try to look like you belong so we don't get kicked all the way back out again."

"How do I do that?" Link approached the door and opened it just a smidge, peeking out into the kitchen just beyond. Three cooks were standing around at work, one very thin teen cutting up vegetables faster than he thought safe, and the other two standing over cooking fires.

"Just…" She peeked out too, and after a small 'eep' darted back below his hat. "Don't look suspicious, just act calm and natural, and no site seeing!"

He was seriously starting to think his fairy friend had a fear of Hylians, but he couldn't properly deal with that right now, considering they were thick in their territory. Besides, she had nothing to fear, they were only people. "Right, calm and natural." Link only took a single breath before he pulled open the door and walked out into the kitchen.

He was instantly assaulted by strange new smells and a heavy heat, the stuffy room making him take smaller lungfuls of air. No one seemed to notice his sudden appearance, all so consumed with their work, so he could take a moment to study the new environment. Over stoves several pots bubbled away, ladles poking out from under lids. Breads of various makes and colors were stacked on a large wooden cutting block, some even steaming as if fresh from the ovens, and others covered with strange colored glazes. In the corner sat a basket full of strange and colorful vegetables, all covered with decent layers of dirt, and a smaller basket of fruits was just by its side. And over the biggest roaring fire was a whole charred pig, shining and dripping as it was slowly roasted.

Links gulped as he met with the dull eyes of the creature, feeling his stomach shrivel into almost nothing at the sight. It was official, he was _never_ eating meat _ever_ again, no one could convince him otherwise.

"Keep going, it stinks here."

Navi's hidden voice was all the encouragement he needed before moving on, exiting out the only other door available and away from the heat and stomach turning food. Just outside of the room it felt instantly cooler, making his skin shiver from the swift difference. It was a simple hallway with only a few windows along the walls, only a single path toward an archway. The blond shrugged and moved along, listening to the muted sounds of others footsteps and voices. But once he made it to the end of the hall and peered out into the next, floor lined with a red carpet, the sounds increased significantly, echoes bouncing off of shined stone. And he wasn't as alone anymore either.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the town had been, but there were several people at any moment walking the halls, heading to their own destinations. guards, servants, maids, craftsmen, all making their way to do their daily work. A man walked past with several crisp and well made garments, muttering something about the imperfect stitches, and a woman dressed in Knights regalia clacked down the hall shouting at some soldiers to keep moving along, perfectly cut bob of black hair framing her strong pretty face.

"Everyone seems so busy…" Link just stayed still and out of the way of traffic, eyes curiously watching as men and women of all ages around, completely ignoring the boy in green.

"And this place is huge… how're we gonna find our way?" The Fae in his hair mumbled, but still not poking out to actually see for herself.

"Excuse me." A boy a little taller than himself walked past Link and down the smaller hall, oblivious to the fact that the Kokiri was rather out of place. Then again everyone he saw were wearing all different kinds and colors of clothes, so maybe he wasn't so terribly noticeable after all.

At the sobering thought Link willed himself to move onward once again, joining the flow of traffic and heading to an unknown destination. At the end of the hall the people split, some going one way and the rest the other, either direction looking identical to him. Link just picked a direction and continued, ignoring the nervous humming of the blue Fae beneath his hat.

After several minutes and turns, still finding himself nowhere, the short boy officially decided he was lost; much like when Hylian children entered his forest, never to leave, he was a Kokiri in their halls, lost in the twists and turns of stone. Blue eyes spotted a lone guard standing off to the side of the corridor, and feeling a little out of sorts Link had no problem approaching the heavy man. "Excuse me sir, but I'm a little lost."

The man in the armor shifted heavily. "What is it, your first day or somethin'?"

Link gave a lop-sided grin and a nod, placing his hands behind his back. "I'm supposed to find the gardens, it's my destiny."

"_What_ are you _doing_?!" Navi gave a harsh whisper below his cap, tiny fist beating on his head. "You can't just say that kind of stuff!"

After a moment the guard gave a short bark of laughter, shaking his helmeted head. "Funny, just like it's my destiny to stand here." The guard shifted off from leaning on the wall, turning his body and pointing back the way Link just came from. "Straight down, once you can't go any further go left, can't miss it." The man moved back once again, settling himself to the wall once more. "Though if the Princess is out there again, you'll have to wait to work on the gardening."

"Thank you." The green garbed boy turned and began back down the hall, smiling now that he was sure of what to do as he whispered back to the Fae in his cap. "Relax, it worked didn't it?"

"Maybe, but from now on, you are forbidden to tell anyone your some special chosen kid, okay?"

"How come?"

"Remember? Someone from this world poisoned and _killed_ the Great Deku Tree, and we're trying to steer clear of that." The fairy sighed, settling down from her rustling. "We wanna keep ourselves hidden from them, okay?"

"But, he said a desert man, didn't he?" Link remembered the whole event and conversation rather clearly, it just wasn't a great memory to dwell upon.

"Yes, but he obviously travels, he could be anywhere, so keep it down." Navi huffed and muttered. "So much for acting calm and natural…"

"Don't worry Navi, we know the way, now just to get there. She said she's waiting for us, so it should all work out."

"Let's hope so, then we can return home."

* * *

AN: My phones totes didn't give me the weekly reminder I told it to. I remembered, now gotta find another system. Also kinda distracted cause found an army of brown recluse spiders hiding in my backyard, so my bro brought over a flamethrower and began the cleansing. I'm still soaking my bed in anti spider oil which happen to be lavender oil so I'll be safe and everything will smell nice too. Also wasted my weekend catching up on Walking Dead (which was great), beating the new Tomb Raider (which was as was expected), and beginning the new Bioshock (which is pretty but makes me sleepy).

There are seven followers now. Yay. And eleven reviews. You guys are great. Also still really enjoy how I write Link, like, makes me wanna almost, dare I say, RP Link with someone maybe. I dunno, I'd have to find a good Sheik. Bet no one would though so I shall carry on writing this instead. Tally ho!

~IANR636


	10. A Hero Meeting His Destiny

**A Hero Meeting His Destiny**

* * *

"Is something wrong My Lady?" Impa watched as the girl, once again, adjusted the wimple around her head, shifting the fabric and sliding the piece that was supposed to be below her chin to instead be on her forehead, making it no more than a simple headdress. She had been fidgeting since finding the Kokiri boy yesterday in the market, always checking herself in mirrors and windows, straightening her dress and tucking stray hair back under her head piece, muttering words and sentences over and over again, as if rehearsing some script only she knew.

It was quite an oddity for the tom boyish Princess of Hyrule to be acting so…

"I think this is the wrong dress Impa! Perhaps I should go back and change, what if he doesn't recognize me?_"_

…girly.

"Little Lady." Impa uncrossed her arms and approached the girl standing in the bed of flowers, grabbing her headdress to try to fix it, though little hands deterred her from setting it below the girls chin once again. She simply then straightened out any wrinkles, making sure the lines were even, tucking stray hairs under the confinement. "You look exceptional."

Zelda pouted up at her, lower lip plump from being bitten all morning. "But I don't look how I should, not to meet _him_._"_

Lady Impa stood and admired the girl, seeing nothing wrong with her attire, seeing the perfect young Princess she was. The Sheikah curved a brow in amusement, trying to catch onto the little girls train of thought. "Then how are you supposed to appear before him little one?"

Zelda smiled and held out her arms, face tilted back to the sun, brilliant blue eyes slipping closed to accept the sun. "Like a true embodiment of Nayru, sent here to guide him on his way."

Impa felt so foolish about this, remiss in her duties as she had agreed to let the boy come even close to the Lady Zelda for a second time now. But, then, she was the only one that believed in her Mistress, and she was scolded very heavily once by the Princess to '_Show a little faith'_, so now here she was, waiting, antsy about some young boy from the forest come to see her charge. Seeing him yesterday in the market, escorting the run-away Princess about had really been the true point Impa came to believe her Little Lady's prophesies; which had meant a restless night for the former Leader of the Sheikah when the desert man slept only a corridor away from her own quarters.

'Keep your enemies close so you may watch them watching you I suppose...'

She also spent much of the dark hours writing and rewriting a few letters and notes by candle light, making plans for a possible future that was suddenly seeming very probable. She had spent the last weeks waiting to see what would be, and now there felt like there was no time left to prepare.

And the boy was exactly how the girl had described him, though the edition of the sword was not entirely expected. Kokiri were peaceful children, but then, he was _not _a Kokiri. It was probable only she could tell that with her Sheikah eyes, but for now she didn't see it merited enough important to bring that to the light and muck up all the other things happening.

"Impa!" The little Lady stomped before her, drawing the Sheikah from her minds wanderings. She might be getting a little to lax in her job, what with this being such a cozy position and all, she really shouldn't zone out like that. "It will be fine… wont it?"

The white-haired Sheikah smiled and fell to one knee, placing her hands on the Princess's shoulders, smiling at her with a strong confidence. "All will go well little Princess. And I'll be here, watching, in case it doesn't. I'll take care of you and make everything right."

Zelda smiled, lip wobbling, and launched herself into a hug, Impa giving back good as she got. Yes, Zelda had told her this meeting _must_ go down without her presence, it was how it was seen, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be watching from the shadows, keeping a close eye on the enigma that was the 'Kokiri' child.

"Should be any minute now Impa."

The little girl in her arms was smiling, snuffling away tears, pushing herself back from the embrace. She seemed suddenly so full of confidence, and Impa felt hers draining, feeling something big was about to become of them all as the hour was at hand. Maybe it would all be true, maybe Ganondorf would turn against them, maybe the world would end, except this little boy would save everything and everyone. Somehow.

Impa cleared her throat and straightened to a stand, trying to clear her mind of the madness. It will be what it will be. She would simply do what she was meant to, protect her Princess and serve her to the best of her ability.

"I'll be watching My Lady, be careful."

Zelda nodded and turned, Impa hesitating a moment before disappearing to a safe vantage point to await for the events about to unfold.

* * *

This was it, the moment she had waited for. Everything had built up to this. She knew it in her bones that this was her focus in life, her purpose, her destiny.

To save Hyrule.

Finding its Hero and pointing him in the right direction was a tasks, one of the many she would face in her life. After meeting him yesterday she had been, as Impa described her, hyper. Upon arriving back in the safety of her home with Impa she had danced and giggled and cried and threw things and picked them up again with sniffled apologies. She was scared and excited because this was it, the meeting that could decide the fate of her Kingdom.

The scary man was in _her_ castle, but together she and the forest child would drive him away.

The sound of soldiers marching at her back prompted the Princess to turn, walking over to a wall to peer through a window, watching as the main hall, designated for meeting with citizens and greeting ambassadors and the such, began to fill with people. Apparently her father was to be seeing someone. She was allowed in on such proceedings but not really welcome to them. She used to sit in them all the time, every day, fascinated listening to peoples troubles and the manner in which her father would deem it best to handle them. Unfortunately it was one such occasion that the Princess had piped up and spoken her idea on how a particular farmer might handle his issue growing crops next year, unintentionally making the King look a fool, and she no longer felt comfortable attending such things.

Her Father strode in the room from a back door, walking calmly over to the throne as a hand maiden helped him sit and positioned his robes to make him look like the perfect King that he was. She smiled; some day that would be her sitting up there, helping the people solve their problems.

And then from the other side of the long chamber, accompanied by one of his own people and a servant of the castle, was the man from the darkness of her dreams, making her shiver even through the thick stone and glass that separated them. It would be that man that she absolutely know would destroy her very world as she knew it if she didn't act quickly enough.

'Look at him, standing there, that smile. Thinks he's so smart. But he doesn't know that I know what he's planning…'

"…maybe she doesn't notice us."

Zelda jumped, nearly tripping herself up in her own skirts as she turned to find an impossibly bright blue light by her nose.

"Oh!"

"Whoa hey!"

The light darted up and away, the Princesses eyes focusing to notice that it was a Fae.

…

A Fae!

"Careful Navi, you're gonna scare her."

Blond lashes blinked over blue eyes as she cast her sight down to her level, an open mouth smile quickly gracing her face. The green garbed boy from the town, from the dream, from their destiny! Sword slung on his back, smile on thin lips, fairy companion hovering overhead.

And she could sense that green and shining stone.

"You're here!

* * *

He grinned even more at her happy declaration, Link shifting his stance proudly. Yep, he was here, made it past guards and workers and… adults. Made it past adults. He was here to make everything right.

"Yeah, hi!"

"Don't be so crude."

A tiny bash on his head made him look up at Navi, watching her come down to settle on the handle of his sword, her light shimmering in a sign of anticipation. This was it, what they were supposed to do. Supposedly. He honestly could not recall most of the Great Deku Trees last conversation, but Navi assured him this was what he was his task, this Princess would make everything right.

"Wow… A true fairy. I thought I would only ever see them in books…"

The Princess was gaping openly at Navi, eyes alight with wonder, and surprisingly Navi was not tying to hide.

"You've never seen a guardian before?"

Links question brought her attention back to himself, her smile ever present. She sure was a happy person.

"A guardian.. Oh, you mean _your_ Guardian. I have one, but not a sprite." She looked back over at his companion again and clasped her hands together before her chest, cheeks rosy with joy. "Blue light, just like my dream."

She really was pretty, even better than story books always described the Princesses as being. Though, in his honest opinion, the over abundance of pink was a little much.

"You wouldn't happen to have the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would you?" She leaned toward him, making Link stumble over his own mind.

Spiritual Stone of the Forest? "Uh…" He tapped his foot on the ground, thinking if he had ever heard of such a thing. Let alone having it. "No?"

At the Princesses crestfallen look Navi jingled in his ear, a whisper light as a feather. "The Emerald from the Deku Tree Link…"

"Oh!" He reached to his back pocket and unclasped one of the pockets, pulling out the glowing stone and holding it aloft to the Princess. Maybe she knew what this thing meant, because beyond it being a parting gift from the Tree he had no clue.

"Ah!" She _squeaked._ Smiling bright as could be. "I knew you were the one!" She reached out to touch the stone but did not take it as he had anticipated, only skimming the surface thoughtfully, eyes turning dark and face falling from its cheer. Slowly her hands fell back to her sides, and as he had anticipated she did not claim the stone. "I had a dream…" Her voice turned somber, the smile that could be seen and heard vanishing with her words. "In the dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over the land of Hyrule…

But suddenly, a ray of light shot out of the forest, parted the clouds, and lit up the ground." Her eyes flashed with light again, hope, locking onto his past the offered stone, Link slowly drawing it back to himself. "The light turned into a figure holding a green and shinning stone, followed by a fairy…"

Him. She dreamed and saw him. And he…

_From the sleeping town that lay inside, a horse turned a corner and raced toward him in a mad dash, frothing at the mouth, two riders leaning forward with the steeds break neck stride. A young girl and a red eye warrior, reminding him of the male from before. As they speed past the girl leaned to look back at him, a frightened and pleading look barely discernible before they were devoured by the dark._

"I dreamed of you too." He spoke, voice no more cheer-filled than hers, placing the stone back into his pouch, sensing that he wasn't meant to give it to her as he had once thought.

The girl did a complete turn on him though, suddenly smiling brightly again and holding out her hand back of her wrist held toward him. "I got carried away with my story and didn't even properly introduce myself." Her other hand grabbed her skirt to hold it in place as she bowed gracefully, tipping her head forward and eyes closed with rosy cheeks. "I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule."

Link had seen this pose before in his books, following the guidance of pictures to grab her hand and bring it to his face, not knowing to kiss in and instead speaking against her feather light skin. "I am Link, from the Kokiri."

She giggled and bowed a bit deeper before rising to a full stand, taking back her hand to clasp them both before her. "Strange… It sounds somehow… familiar."

Her name did too, like something he always knew but didn't remember until just now; though now that he heard it he knew he wouldn't forget it ever again.

"Alright Link!" She grinned at him, Link unable to resist a smile back. "I'm going to tell you the secret of the Sacred Realm that has been passed down by the Royal Family of Hyrule."

The tiny girl pulled at her skirts and gently lowered herself to sit on the clean stone with the grace only a girl could manage, Link following her lead with an undignified fall of his own.

"The three Goddesses hid the Triforce containing the power of the Gods somewhere in Hyrule…" Her eyes became far away suddenly, voice taking on a breathy quality. "The power to grant the wish of the one who hold the Triforce in their hands…" She came back after a moment, refocusing on him again, blushing as she pushed her fingers together. "If someone with a righteous heart makes a wish, it will lead Hyrule to a golden age of prosperity. And if someone with an evil mind had his wish granted, the world will be consumed by evil.

So the ancient sages and my ancestors built the Temple of Time, to protect the Triforce from evil ones.

The Temple of Time is the entrance through which you can enter the Sacred Realm from our world."

And apparently that lead to great or terrifying things if someone did so. Anyone with evil intentions laying their hand on the Triforce would hurt everyone, though someone kind and gentle would bring peace and prosperity to the lands.

Link couldn't help but think this little girl before him should be the only person allowed to ever touch that sacred power, if anyone at all.

"But the entrance is sealed with an old stone that nigh fire nor magicks can destroy." Zelda made to stand, gathering her skirts and rising with a huff, Link following her actions. "A wall we call the Door to Time."

A door, the Triforce, a temple, sages… this was getting a little heavy for him. Link had just wanted a simple adventure, not a puzzle to go along with it. But still it was cool, he never imagined anything like this happening in his life.

"It is said that one needs all three of the Sacred Stones to gain entrance, but another thing you need… is the treasure that the Royal Family keeps along with this legend… The Ocarina of Time!"

And stones and ocarinas and legends… he was thankful Navi was memorizing everything for him, because he was honestly getting a little lost on all the details. Though he was quickly coming to the idea that this wasn't such a simple adventure anymore…

"Oh, another thing…" Zelda placed her hands on the heavy fabric over her head, pushing it up from where it began to sink down over her eyes, stepping a bit away from the wall at her back. "I was looking in on my fathers daily affairs just now, and… well… take a look for yourself Link."

He thought nothing of walking up to the window, still awed by the thing that was glass, but looked past it to what lay inside. A grand hall of gray stones and red and gold tapestries, and those in armor standing all around…

_Knights in full and regal armor line the walls, two holding open polished and well aged doors though they make no sound. _

"The other element from my dream… the dark clouds.. I believe they symbolize that man in there!"

_And through those doors walks a man great in stature and imposing presence, all dark palettes save for his eyes. Two citrine jewels amongst an unpolished face, gruff as the sands he can feel shaped this being of power._

"The man with the evil eyes." Link murmurs beneath his breath, Navi sensing his growing distress as she rests her wings against his neck in a sign of comfort.

"This is Ganondorf Dragmire." Zelda's voice is a grounding force for him, thankfully, otherwise Link was sure he might not be so brave as to stand here staring at that man.

The one who killed the Great Deku Tree.

"He is the leader of the Gerudo. They hail from the desert in the western province of Hyrule. And though he swears his allegiance to my father, I am sure he is not sincere." Her voice has gone dark like his thoughts, both of them in agreement that this man was of an evil mind. If he hurt his Deity, then he surely would hurt others.

And then those yellow eyes turn toward him, and its as if they knew each other once too.

Link jumps back from the window with a gasp, out of that mans line of sight along with the Princess, his hand coming to cover his heart from beating out of his chest. He knew him, the same as Zelda, he _knew _this man, he'd met him before. But where…

"What happened? Did he see you?" The girl doesn't sound started like he is, merely curious. "Well, don't worry. He doesn't know what we're planning… yet!"

Navi makes her presence known again in light of Link suddenly having a lump in his throat, fluttering up in the space between the two children, voice lighter than normal. "Have you told anyone yet?"

Zelda nods, giving a little puff of air that makes a few tiny fly away bangs poking through her cover on her head shift. "Yes, I told my guardian and my father about my dream. However, he didn't believe it was a prophecy." She began to walk away from the window in slow steps, Link all to glad to follow her lead. "But, this is not the first foresight I have had, and I can sense that mans evil intentions. What Ganondorf is after must be nothing less than the Triforce of the Sacred Realm, our most prized treasure." She has lost her smile again, eyes downcast at the perfectly cut grass at her feel, Link too watching as from beneath her soft dress little feet seem to bring her forward. Anything to keep his mind off the strange images swimming in his head.

"I can only imagine him using it to claim rule over our entire Kingdom…" She turned to Link, eyes bright with unshed tears. "Maybe even the whole world!

Link, now we are the only ones who can protect Hyrule!"

Wait, we? _We? _He was… just supposed to deliver this stone, right? He was supposed to go right back home to Saria, he promised! What else was he supposed to do?

"Please, you must help me Link! I can't do this alone!"

He opened his mouth and, finding no words, closed it again, his throat having only made an awkward chocked sound. Help the Princess, save the Kingdom, be the Hero. This was a dream come true, just… when it was presented before him it was kind of scary.

Navi fluttered down to land of Zelda's headdress, blue light paler than usual, bell-like voice jingling at him in hope. "Come on Link, you wont be alone, we'll all be saving Hyrule together!"

The Deku Tree had relied on him… and he had failed. But now Saria, Fado, and the other Kokiri had sent him out to do _something_. And Zelda and Navi were hoping for him to help. And Malon and all those people would need him. If he could just try again, maybe he could get it right this time, maybe he could help everyone.

No. Not maybe. He _would._ Link would help everyone.

"Okay."

He didn't expect for the girl covered in layers of silks to throw herself at him in a hug, Link almost tumbling backwards from the unexpected weight. She was whispering 'Thank you's over and over into his tunic, Navi dancing up and down overhead. Link returned the embrace, her warmth reminding him of Saria and a sense of homesickness hit him he didn't expect.

They both sniffled as each backed away from another a small step in the garden, the girl palming at her eyes to carefully remove her own tears, Link removing his own albeit far less graceful.

"I will protect the Ocarina of Time, I shall not let that man have it." Zelda's voice was sure, her eyes shining with hope. "Now you must go find the other two Spiritual Stones, before that man can get his hold on them."

Two more stones… he hoped they wouldn't be as hard to obtain as the first. But he would do this, for her, for everyone, even if it was harder than the first time around.

"One more thing…" The girl reached under her headdress to grab out a sheet of thick parchment, gold and blue a design on the cover. "Take this letter, I'm sure it will be helpful to you."

He accepted the fine piece of paper, smiling as he placed it down the front of his tunic to rest against his stomach, safe from being bent of crinkled in any way.

"My attendant will guide you out of the castle." Blue eyes looked over Links shoulder, a tiny smile on pale lips forming. "Don't be afraid to talk to her."

Apparently Zelda wasn't one for goodbyes either, so Link simply nodded and with one last look at her turned away. Navi settled on his head again as he began to walk out of the gardens, choosing to walk through the bushes and plants instead of on the paths intended. It just felt more natural that way.

"So now we're off to save the world." Navi's voice was a tiny whisper beside his ear, a warm breath of light that calmed his rattled bones.

"Well… you were begging along with her." He pouted as he carefully walked around a spider's web, not wanting to be anywhere near the things while his memory of the caverns beneath the Deku Tree were still fresh. "I didn't expect you to gang up on me like that…"

"Hey, didn't gang up, just…" They rounded a small tree and a woman came into sight, arms crossed and looking fierce. Navi darted below his hat to hide again. "Just being a good Guardian and making sure you choose the the right path."

"Well, you didn't have to." He eyed the woman as he approached, taking note of her red eyes. "I would have helped anyways…"

"I am Impa." Link stopped before her, not surprised to find her voice both stern and smooth, an authority figure whose very presence made him nervous. He suddenly felt very afraid to make any sort of mistake around this one lest the scolding that was sure to follow. "I am of the Sheikah, and I am responsible for protect Princess Zelda." The woman looked past him, face softening from one of strength to one of uncertainty, a small frown alighting upon her features. "Everything is exactly as the Princess foretold…"

After a moment she looked back to him, indifferent mask in place, hip shifting as she moved positions. "You are a courageous boy to leave home like this… and now you are heading out on a quest for us all." Link nodded his head slowly, just once, not finding himself as trusting of this one as he had been of Zelda. "My role in the Princess's prophecy was to teach a melody to the one from the forest."

Impa placed her hand at her mouth, blowing a single note, and Link was quick to scramble for Saria's ocarina from his belt, bringing it to him own lips with attentive blue eyes upon the women above.

A simple melody in a light whistle, a handful of notes that instantly stuck in his memory. Link turned red, realizing he didn't know how to place the instrument in his hands, but Impa was patient as he tried several different notes before finding the right ones. After only a few moments he slowly strung together the same melody, repeating it back, and after looked up at her with a shy smile.

She returned it, looking surprisingly motherly in doing so, and suddenly Link felt much more trusting of her. "I have played this song for Princess Zelda as a lullaby ever since she was a baby. And it was taught to me by her mother."

There was power in those notes, he was sure, it would not have been taught to him unless it would be helpful in someway. Though right now he was more proud than anything that he had successfully played the ocarina. He couldn't wait to tell Saria.

"If the soldiers catch you, there will be trouble." Impa turned sideways, motioning toward the archway he had walked through just before. "I will guide you out of the castle."

* * *

They stood just beyond the drawbridge to town looking out into the world, Impa having seen to him not only leaving the castle but gathering the proper supplies, courtesy of her own coffers, before seeing him out of the town as well and back into the field. He felt the weight of his task upon him was heavy, but he thought, looking out into the sunset, that he could handle it.

"Take a good look at that mountain."

Link turned to see where she gestured, one of the many mountains ringing their world, though this one was tallest by far, a ring of smoke over a snowy peak making it stand out more so.

"That is Death Mountain, though do not let the name fool you, it is home to the peaceful race known as the Gorons." She looked back at him and Link stepped forward to stand by her side, both looking up at the imposing peak. "They hold the Spiritual Stone of Fire."

"At the foot of Death Mountain, you will find my village, Kakariko. That is where I was born and raised." And she had said her people were the Sheikah, so there must be others like her there as well. It would be cool to meet yet more strange people, find out what others were like compared to the Kokiri. "Here, take these too." She held two letters before his face, Link looking them over quickly before shoving them down the front of his tunic, turning to smile at the Lady Impa. "Meet with my people, they will guide you on your path."

"We're counting on you."

"Wait!"

She froze from raising her hand in the air, Link having sensed she was about to make an abrupt departure halting her leave. She raised a silver brow at him, urging him to speak, and the boy felt his cheeks heat up.

"T-thank you."

Impa remained still for a second before a warm smile blossomed upon her lips, stance softening. "Good luck, Hero."

She threw something to the ground and with a flash of light, Link flinching away, she had vanished.

Hero… she called him Hero. He smiled at that name, turning back to the mountain, eying the the mountain and the forest seeming to be right beside it in the distance. He knew he had a place to go, but maybe he could just quickly stop back home, check in on Saria, make sure she and the other Kokiri were alright.

"Come on Link, lets go!"

Navi began to bob above his head again, free of her constrictions without others around, and Link couldn't help but smile in anticipation.

'_Hero__…'_ He thought as he began to walk toward the greener parts of Hyrule.

* * *

AN: Ah another week, another chapter, and with this we climb over 50k. Rejoice those of us that enjoy stupidly long novel sized fanfictions!

Now I have a few reviews to reply to, so let us get through these lovely people:  
Glompeh: Thank you, I really think I overly detail things, and talk about unnecessary stuff, but I'm gonna try to cut that down I swear. I have plans for Link and Sheik all thought out, and spoiler alert, this is all part of a much bigger tale that has a horribly sad middle part that none of you are gonna see coming I promise you this plot is gold I'm going to make you all curse my name.  
H.S: I'm surprised I have any reviews. This is a rather old fandom, I'm just glad there are enough of us left still enjoying this awesome pairing. And yeah, Zelda Universe has so much culture to it that I feel is never much addressed in fanfictions, besides the usual 'Sheiks cowl and clothes are from tradition so no he cant't take it off it would be rude to his ancestors.'  
Synea: Eventually this is gonna transition over to Sheiks story and you wont even realize it. Also on the maggots thing, I really like maggots, but then I'm a guy who took a college course forensics class in high school to fully appreciate the decay rate of human flesh and the growth of fly larvae in flesh to track times of death for artistic purposes so I'm really god-awful strange. Glad I can write creepy well though.  
Rorufuu: Where did you go sir?! You're my first person who hung around for this come baaaack.

I'm glad I'm still remembering weekly updates, so far so good. Also I know a while back I said I was planning out the whole Sheikah language. Might have... underestimated what that would take. So I have this huge document with the main things I need and the rest I make up as it sounds legit to me. Also planning out a partial Gerudo language, that's very guttural, and the Hylian language, which sounds very old and softly spoken. I have no idea what else to say other than I'm honestly shocked I made it this far, I have a tendency to bail on things. Well now that we've hit this point, I might as well continue on.

~IANR636


	11. Kakariko

**Kakariko**

* * *

Once, a long time ago, Link dreamed about stairs.

Rather boring, no doubt there, but to a boy who had only ever lived with ladders and vines and carved out stumps for homes his whole life, such strange and simple things were the random stuff that popped up in dreams sometimes.

In his dream he had found a staircase, infinite as far as the eye could tell, that lead winding up into the skies and clouds beyond, all beginning in a random grove in his forest home. He climbed this stair case without thought, quickly able to ascend out of the trees and see the world beyond. A Castle and Towns doted the world revealed, with strange animals large and small existing side by side. As he climbed further he could see many Kingdoms and Forest homes, and even a great big body of water in the distance, bluer than any sky.

Eventually the dream ended with him looking straight down and seeing no stairs below his feet any longer, thus he plummeted to the ground, and unfortunately woke up by smacking face first into his floor, but it had been well worth it. The journey he had embarked on in that dream had been nothing if not amazing, so to the little blond Kokiri boy, stairs signified something grand.

For the first time in his life that he had encountered stairs, that being the set leading up to the gates of Kakariko hidden in the mountains, his heart speed up in reminder of the vivid dream. Stairs… and he was on an adventure already, so in a way it was like his dream had come true. Something grand was at the top of these stairs, at the end of his adventure.

Just hopefully he wouldn't come crashing down to Earth and scrape up his face again.

"Looks painful."

He blinked, drawn from his thoughts, as his Fae made an appearance to flutter around his head, yawning as she did so. She hadn't come out since he had been visiting in the forest with Saria yesterday, his time spent being assured by his big sister and learning a song from her to remember her by when he got lonely out in the world.

"What do you mean?"

The girl finished her long yawn and bobbed slowly over to the steps, setting herself down on one several feet up. "Looks like a lot to climb, I'm betting it's gonna tire you out." She flopped back to look upside down at the mountain looming overhead. "Hope they have an Inn at this town too, where ever it may be up there."

Link didn't share the same view she did, looking at the stairs he didn't see how it could bring any pain. After all, he had walked all the way here by himself, and even though that was rather annoyingly exhausting at times (and he only kept going a lot of it due to Navi's prodding), he didn't see how this could be much different. The Town couldn't be far up here anyways, so there wouldn't be _that_ many steps. Tapping the toes of his boots on the gravel below he moved right up to the first step and began to climb, passing his fairy by without even a glance.

After a moment behind him he heard his partners swift take to the air, following after. "Hey, if this is because I ate most of that cake, I'm sorry alright? I must have said it a dozen times!" But Link didn't answer her, his mind set and determined on the climb, and the Fae only able to sigh and float along after the boy as they began toward the town.

* * *

"…What are you doing here kid?"

He huffed and fell to his knees after practically crawling over the final step, sweat making his clothes stick rather uncomfortably to his skin. The air moving in and out of his lungs burned, and he couldn't help but to hack at the sensation. Even the normally cool grass bit at his aching knees.

"Navi… Navi please.. Tell me… we're at… the top."

His voice was hoarse and short, and at the sound his chubby fingers reached for one of the water skins he had slung under his arm— one of the gourds Princess Zelda had brought actually —to take a long pull of the refreshing river water he had thankfully filled up on before beginning his climb.

Meanwhile his Fae was floating, frozen, before the soldier which had addressed Link, wondering if, perhaps, she didn't move then he wouldn't see her.

The skinny man in metal blinked once. Twice. And Navi's light flickered, her antenna twitching.

"A FAIRY! I FOUND A FAIRY!"

Such wasn't her luck.

The man scrambled to remove his helmet, dropping his lance along the way with a heavy clang, and began trying to scoop her from the air like a bug; Navi giving a surprised jingle before darting back to the safety of her partners clothes. Sweat and smell be damned, at least it was safe in here!

Link looked up at the commotion, meeting with a soldier standing not a few steps away, helmet raised like a net, ready to swing down on himself, only frozen in motion. Both of their eyes met, the soldier blinking surprised and confused down at the boy, and him blinking curiously back up.

"I only thought soldiers were in the castle town." Links face fell at his own words. "Oh no, don't tell me I'm not anywhere near Kakariko!"

"No forest child, you are right where you intended to be."

A voice from behind the soldier chimed in and drew his attention away from the awkwardly standing man. An older woman, stooped over and guided by a younger girl smiling down at him, pale red eyes piercing right into his mind like Impa's had done. She was swathed in layers of fur and fabric, prints and designs overlapping everywhere, and where he could see skin, such as her hands and face, pale scars contrasted and stood out, like they had been just drawn all over. And the girl by her side was no different, she was nearly completely covered from head to toe, even her face concealed, and red eyes pierced straight through him. Both their skin pale as Impas had been.

"What is your name young one?"

Link finally realized she was talking with him and pushed to stand with a painful grunt, slinging the water back from where he got it. "Oh, I'm Link." The boy sniffled and smiled at each of the people, seeing more stopping and staring in the background of the village. "And I was sent here by Princess Zelda."

Murmurs arose from the small crowd and the soldier finally unfroze from above, stepping back and reasserting his helmet in its resting place. "Absurd! Why would the noble Princess have any affiliation with a dirty miscreant such as yourself?" The snobbish man pretended he hadn't dropped his weapon nor tried to catch a Fae just moments before and crossed his arms, looking down his nose at the blond boy.

Link had no idea was a miscreant was, but he had proof he knew the Princess, fishing into his tunic to pull out a few letters, blushing at the fact that they had stuck to his skin a little bit and crackled as he pulled them away. "Here you go."

The soldier wasted no time in snatching the mail away, turning it over in his hands. "This… this is from…" He stared wide eyed at Zeldas note on top, running his fingers over gold leaf and perfect ink. "The Royal Family!" The man was so loud and shocked, that even though the others of the village felt the same they still laughed at him under their breaths. The soldier held the letters to himself and pointed down accusingly at the green boy. "How did YOU get these? You _must_ have stolen them!"

After his words the old woman shuffled over, without the assistance of her girl, and snatched the letters right from the mans hands, tutting as she shuffled back. "There's no need to accuse innocent children of crimes, as far as we know so far he is a messenger." Old hands shakily handed the folded and sealed papers to the girl at her side, the younger one looking them over with far more care than the soldier had shown.

"One is from the Princess Zelda, and two are from the Lady Impa."

Her monotone voice brought a hush over the gathered people, dozens of red eyes staring him down and making him slightly uncomfortable. He swallowed thickly as the old womans thin lips pulled into a smile, weathered hand motioning for him to come to her. "Well then, I believe we have a guest to see to." She turned to the guard with a smug grin. "Thank you for greeting him for us, we will take it from here." At that the woman turned and began to shuffle away, her girl turning along with her.

Link was confused by what had just happened, but when the young girl turned back to him to motion with a throw of her head to follow, he wasted no time in doing so, regardless of the painful pins and needles in his legs from his long climb. As he began to walk along side the two red eyed women, thankful for the slow pace, he began to finally take in the village for the first time since arriving.

Many random houses placed unevenly about, no two the same. A few toward the front were newer, much more alike, and with Hylians standing outside of them, but as he moved further into the village the rest were much more wild and free. Tiny fenced gardens were attached to every building, almost all filled with crops instead if flowers like had been in the Castle Town. No children were running around playing, but several groups were huddled together, each at a different task than another, none of them looking to be very fun games; throwing needles as thick as pines, deflecting wooden blades with arms, tucking and rolling only to pop back up and do so again. And in the distance, by an opening in the cliff side at the back of the village, a lone child wallowed in the mud under a womans supervision.

"Weird… " The boy muttered under his breath, but the short chuckle from the older woman ahead gave away that he had been heard.

"Perhaps our ways are weird to you, but to us Sheikah, your ways might seem much the same." They were making their way off toward the side of the village leading up the mountain, and Link was having a dreadful wonder that they might just send him on his way without any kind of rest. "Welcome to Kakariko Village young one, though your greeting wasn't the warmest, I do hope you enjoy your stay."

Link smiled at that, now more than eager to follow as the two women lead him up a short flight of stairs— what was a few more after all— and into one of the older houses of the village, paint chips flaking and beams visibly bending from the strain of years. A few pieces of colored glass hung from the dead tree out front, and wines had claimed half of the house and most of the roof for themselves. "You can call me Link ma'am."

The younger girl moved ahead to open the door, holding it as both the older woman and himself passed inside, closing it behind them with a nearly inaudible clack. Though the windows were covered enough light slipped through to give the home a fuzzy warm feel, making Links eyes instantly heavy.

"Sah'aim bettah low oolum." The woman spoke to the girl who walked off to another part of the house, Link making a confused pout at the strange words. "Now, why don't you come here and sit with me." He watched as she lowered herself onto a couch with a creek of bones and a sigh, his own legs suddenly begging for much the same reprieve. "I'm sure you deserve a nice break."

"Thank you." Link moved over to the plush cushions, plopping down into them with a smile and a happy sigh.

"Now, tell me, how did you come to find your way here. And what of these…?" She motioned out to the three letters upon the table before folding her hands back upon her lap, the sounds of the other girl working in an unseen room calmly filling the house.

"Well, I was sent to see the Princess." His hand reached up to go and remove the hat on his head, but a startled yelp is all that greets either of them as he did so, his head empty of a certain friend. "This is my partner, Navi." Link brings the hat into his lap and reveals the inside where the fairy is clinging to the fabric, trying to remain hidden when shes already been clearly revealed. "We traveled together to visit with her."

The old woman only takes a moment to look down at the Fae, smiling and siting back up to nod for the boy to continue. "So you met with the Princess?"

"Yep, took a while, and really she found me first, but I got to speak with her inside her castle."

The girl emerged from the kitchen with a small tray, setting it down to reveal several small sweet breads and finely cut cheeses and large nuts. Links eyes lit up and even the pixie in his lap seemed to forget her fear of people, both staring down the offered food like they hadn't just eaten the night before while camping in the field.

"Help yourself." The woman smiled and the girl disappeared once again, the boy and his Fae needing no further encouragement before they both moved to partake in the food. "Now, you met with the Princess Zelda, and I'm going to assume the Lady Impa as well?"

He swallowed a bite of bread and cheese with a heavy gulp, nodding at the woman enthusiastically. "The silver haired woman, yeah." He wiped at his mouth as he just reached for more, hand passing over Navi who was sitting on the edge of the tray while she nibbled on a block of cheese. "She had eyes like everyone here; are you all family?"

The woman smiled and off in another part of the house a kettle began to whistle. "Much the same all the Kokiri are, or the Zora. We are all one race, the Sheikah." The woman held out her hand and pulled back her sleeves to reveal her thin bony wrist, or more importantly the tattoo laced around it; an elaborate design of runes and symbols the like of which seemed very familiar to him. "Lady Impa, much like myself in younger years, is a Living Shadow, the pride of our people." She drew her hand back, blue eyes rising once again to meet red. "She is our hope and dreams for a better tomorrow."

The words were somber, as if laced with a dark history, but before he could ask the girl emerged with another small platter of cups and a kettle in hand. She set everything down with care and quiet, never once letting her eyes rise to meet with his own as she set to work. Two cups were placed out, one before himself and one the older woman, and the girl placed dried leaves into both, along with a spoonful of sugar. She then poured the steaming water into each, deep aromatic smells instantly blooming from each, causing Link to take a deep breath and let out a calmed sigh.

"Now then." The woman reached forward for her drink as the girl exited the room once again, bringing the cup up to her lips with a shaky hand. "The Lady Impa and the Princess Zelda sent you on your way here? All by yourselves?"

Link mimicked her actions, bringing the very warm cup carefully up to his lips, eager to continue trying all things new— so long as it didn't involve any dead animals of course. "Zelda told me to find stones, and Impa sent me here to you. I'm supposed to climb the mountain and meet with the Gorons I think." He tilted the cup slowly to sip a little at the drink, only to instantly gasp and pull it away, lip and tongue burned.

The woman gave a small chuckle at that and sipper her own just fine, watching as the boy grabbed a sweet cool fruit to try and make the burning numbness go away. "Stones… and the Gorons… how peculiar…"

Navi had remained quiet and nearly invisible this whole time, aside from her constant glow, but at this she choose to speak up, looking only at her partner. "Link, show her the Emerald. Maybe she can help?"

The blue Fae seemed to have opened up enough to trust this woman, then so could he, little hands reaching into a pocket at his side to remove the glittering green stone set in the purest gold. "Stones like this." He looked up at the woman expectantly, hoping for answers.

At the sight of the gem the woman froze, somethings seeming to click in her head. She set the cup down with suddenly still hand and motioned to the other girl, whom Link hadn't noticed standing in the corner, to approach. "Deliver the letters, be quick about it. And then bring the Oracle." The girl didn't even give a nod before grabbing up the stack of folded parchment and making to leave, exiting without a single sound. Suddenly things felt much more serious than a moment before, and Link stayed his hand in grabbing anymore of the offered snacks. "You said your name was Link correct?"

He nodded, hands nervously going to the hem of his tunic to worry at the edge of the fabric. Navi too has stopped her snacking, suddenly going still once again, and seeming as if she wishes she was back under the safety of the hat she had made a home.

"And you truly are a Kokiri, and this is your Fae? Not a pet or a servant, but a guide, this is all true?" Her voice had lost it's sweetness, now far more direct and demanding.

"Yes ma'am. I was sent by the Great Deku Tree, right before he… he died."

The silence that settled after that was the heaviest he'd ever been unfortunate enough to be part of, even the womans questioning seemed preferable to it, heck, even the soldiers yelling. After a second the woman took another slow sip of her tea, turning away from him to face a bookshelf full of dusty tomes and scrolls. "So, the Deku Tree has passed into his reincarnation cycle."

Link blinked confused at that but asked nothing, storing it away to ask Navi about later. All he did was nod at her words, though wasn't sure she even saw the gesture. In fact looking now, he was beginning to realize that her eyes were a dull red not due to differences from her fellow people, but because she was going, or may already be, blind.

"And you have been sent to collect the Spiritual Stones."

He nodded again, slowly sinking into his place on the couch. It felt very much like something heavy had settled onto his chest, a feeling that had been happening more and more often lately. He had to collect other stones like the emerald… what if they all had to be found the same way? Going through trials and fighting monsters, being hurt and exhausted to the point of collapse? How many more were there anyways? Suddenly Link had a dozen questions, but now of all times wasn't the moment to voice them.

"A child… a boy no more than ten… " The woman slowly pushed herself off from the couch, joints cracking in the silence of the house. "Goddesses, what is your plan now…" She began muttering to herself in both the language he understood and the one he didn't, moving off to another part of the house, slipping past curtains to disappear from sight all together.

"Link, I'm kinda… scared." Navi pushed away her block of partially nibbled on cheese, seeming to have lost her appetite as well. "Do you think we said something wrong?"

After a moment the boy nodded his head, reaching out for the cup of tea once again to begin blowing on the surface of the water needing to do something to calm himself.

"Zelda sent us to find the stones, Impa sent us here, Zelda trusts Impa, so… this should be right." The pixie didn't sound as sure as either of them would have liked, only the heavy ticking of a grandfather clock answering either of their questions.

After a little while, Link having finished his tea and nibbled on a few more things, and Navi having settled back into his hat in his lap, the front door opened, the girl from before returning, and not alone either. Walking behind her was a young boy, no older than himself, completely covered in fabrics much like the older woman had been. The girl looked over at Link and, and at not seeing her mistress, moved off to the doorway the woman had disappeared down, doing the same herself.

Cold fingers startled him as they touched his arm, the young boy grabbing at him as if studying. "Kokiri… maybe." The boy mumbled to himself, voice strangely dry and older sounding then he thought it should be. "A warrior… no, not yet." Fingers had turned his hand over and were tracing the palm, moving up along the arm to press painfully down on the small bones and veins along the way, but the blond kept himself silent under the treatment, too nervous to protest. "Fate… thick as his blood." After the boys hands had smoothed all the way up Links arm and to his chest, resting over his steadily increasing heartbeat did they stop their wandering, blueish lips pulling back into a slow grin. "Courage… enough to fill the hearts of the people."

"Oracle," He turned to look as the old woman came back into the room, book in hand, and girl trailing just behind. "what do you see?"

The young boy finally let go and stepped back, grinning up at the elderly woman. "Destiny." The boy dropped the expression and removed an opened letter from his swimming coats, holding it aloft. "Mashim nue, fradrickeh enue bashrah oum?"

"Ploa me'syiun, sabairn." The woman set the book down upon the table, opening it to a page her finger had marked, revealing a inking full of symbols he couldn't read. The womans long fingers tapped at a certain passage and all three Sheikah leaned over to look. They were silent for a whole minute, three pairs of eyes reading over the same thing, while Link and Navi were left be to wonder. Then, at once, all three Sheikah lifted upright to look over at him, red eyes glittering with some new found information he didn't have privy to.

"Sollum." The boy moved over to the old womans side and tapped her arm, drawing her gaze to himself. "Send him up the mountain."

"You're certain?" At the small child's nod she sighed and shuffled out of the room again, her hand maid waiting with the 'Oracle' in the room.

"Don't be startled." The boy smiled as he spoke, voice more fitting to his age now. "We just were seeing if you're ready for your future."

"I don't understand…" And he really didn't.

"A time far from now, and yet not far off. You will understand everything." The older woman began entering the room once again. "Our end is your beginning." She gave a toothy grin, which had the opposite effect of her intent to calm him down considering how black her gums were. "And you will need a better shield."

"Ah, yes." The Oracle placed a hand on his chin, tapping a small finger to his lips in thought. "…A Soldiers Shield perhaps?"

"Do you think we could get one?" The old woman spoke as she leaned over the open book, wrinkled hands carefully turning pages. "Maybe from one of the guards."

"As if _they_ would be willing to help us." The little boy sneered, turning towards the open door to look at the sunlight streaming in, millions of bits of dust floating and dancing through the warm light. "I bet if we bribed one, he might let him borrow it."

"Very well." The practically mute girl chimed in once again, handing back the newly filled skin to Link before she walked over to a dresser, opening a drawer and taking a small satchel out from the back. She turned it over in her palm to reveal three silver rupees, walking back over and holding them out, ignoring the gasps of the other two Sheikah present. "This should cover."

* * *

"Not bloody likely." The man spit out a ball of something that looked decidedly like snot from under his helmet with a wet hack, but he didn't seem to care, even about doing such a thing in the presence of two young boys, and young lady, and an older woman. "I ain't not be giving you _anythin_, specially not me shield."

"Pretty please mister?" Link smiled up at the man and held aloft one of the pieces of silver, holding the other two aside for haggling in a little bit, or so as had been instructed to do so by the old woman, not that he understood the idea of it at all. "I'll be right back with it, I promise."

"'nd then what am I supposed to do? Stand here without me shite together? Aye wouldn't be a very good Knight ladie."

Which he wasn't. A Knight that is. He was but a simple guard, and a lower tier one at that, someone of little concern enough to be shoved off to some Sheikah village below the mountains to keep the Gorons in check, and keep an eye on the village inhabitants, same as the guard over at the main gate he had met earlier. That was what the older woman had muttered about him as they had approached, though Link didn't understand, it was an important job anyways wasn't it?

"Mach'aem ollum." The Oracle's voice behind him was hushed and a spit to the ground followed it, the guard before him glancing back at the boy with a sneer before looking back down at Link.

"Answers final lad, no Shield, I have some pride ya know? I ain't selling it."

"Okay, phase two." Navis jingle under his cap prompted him to slip out the second silver gem, planting a only slightly fake look of desperation on his dirty face.

"Please Mister, I promise to be super careful with it, and I'll return it I swear!"

The man rolled his shoulders beneath the armor. "No is no kid, now get yer ass outa me space."

Link was about to open his mouth the insist again when, of all people the girl came up at his side, silent and imposing as she stepped right into the guards personal bubble. He leaned back from her aggressive glare, but bravely enough didn't stand down.

"Listen well. We tolerate your _ashei__'em_ everyday, your jibes and harassment. We let you live in our village, yes, _let._ And we just helped save your wife from a most dangerous pregnancy without you ever needing have asked for our help." The mans eyes shifted from Links bright ones to her own, a thick swallow and a grimace, his armor making a loud sound of his shifting. "All we are saying is for you to give this boy your shield." Not ask. She wasn't asking. "And Goddesses forbid something befalls this village you know damn well-" She shoved at his breast-plate, the man stumbling a step back. "-that _we_ will be the ones defending it, not you. You're just the whistle-blower."

The man was shaking, but he quickly headed to the girls demand, holding his shield over for Link to take.

"Link give the man one of the rupees."

"Hey! He offered me two!—"

The girl put a finger right between his eyes so quick the man gasped, instantly stopping his protest in asking for more. Link couldn't quite see but he was sure her face was awesome if it could cow this man. The Kokiri grinned as he dropped only one gem into the grown mans trembling hand, pocketing the second where the third was and stepping back with his newly acquired equipment, nearly losing balance from the weight.

"Heavy…"

"You wont probably be using it like you're supposed to." The Oracle spoke, smiling at him more like an adult would rather than a child. "But trust me, it'll serve its purpose."

As a group the four of them began back to the old womans house, Link noticing that most people were no longer outside, windows glowing as the sky past twilight, the smell of rich food cooking filling his senses.

"Can I sleep?" He sighed at his own question, almost expecting them to shuffle him back off without any rest. Though he was pleasantly surprised when instead the old woman welcomed him into her home again with a smile and a thick blanket, shuffling him off to her own bed, assuring him she wouldn't be sleeping this night.

When Link finally laid his head down, equipment stripped off and on the floor, he was out in a moment, not even caring about the worn smell of the sheets or the lack of a proper meal in his belly.

"You think this is right?"

"What we think doesn't matter… …is all that matters."

"We need to gather everyone… …sunrise…"

"…if so, our end has begun."

Navi listened to the people speaking in the other room, trying to keep track, though her own weariness was catching up as well, and before she could grab another word sleep claimed her for the night along side her companion.

* * *

A week. A whole week since this training had began. A whole week of him trudging out of bed before dawn and making his way to this little puddle at the edge of town. A whole week of meeting with several people he couldn't classify in his mind above the name _m__ach__'aem_ who would point to the water and say "Run."

A whole week of trying to run on fucking _water._

A whole week of failure.

Sheik wasn't prepared for his training to have become this grueling, nothing ever had been this hard physically before, his limbs still raged at him for it every waking second, even while he slept he would awake in the middle of the night because his legs would randomly spasm and shot pain through his body, but he was resigned to it. No matter how hard he tried, no matter what teacher he had, and no matter how he approached it, the tan boy just could _not_ master the art of walking on water. Hell, he couldn't even accidentally do it for just a fraction of a second. It wasn't happening, and no one cared. It was as if everyone thought that they could just force it to happen, not the logic of somethings not being possible for some people.

Honestly, he hated to give up at something, but this had already become absolutely pointless. It wasn't happening.

"_It's because he's not a full blood."_

That had been the choice insult of onlookers for the past days, but it wasn't terribly original, he was used to hearing it. Whether it was true… well, he didn't know any more than they did. True he was darker skinned than any of them, and his speed and flexibility was unnatural albeit without a skill to use it properly, but he was also smaller than most Sheikah, but his ears and eyes were the same as those around him, and he had the same sight everyone else did; he could see into the void of shadows same as everyone else. At worst he was quarter diluted, but that possibility was enough to make him somewhat of a social pariah. Not all the time, his people would mostly ignore him same as any other Sheik, but when he failed they all made obvious their distaste for him.

And it wasn't that they were against ethnic diversity, at least, they never used to be. But ever since the attacks, ever since the war, their numbers so small now… they had become rather close knit as a people, trying to maintain themselves and not lose who they were to the world. He understood, and maybe even agreed somewhat, just there wasn't anything he could do about who he was.

"Get out of the water!"

He slinked back up the muddy bank, water soaking his clothes and making him feel heavier than usual; one thing he really wished for was one of the warriors suits, even if they weren't water proof most of it would sluice right off him and he wouldn't be forced to carry its weight. His current mentor for the day, a middle aged pregnant woman, walked up to him, uncaring of his state of filth and smell.

"You're not getting it." She sighed as clean hands held out a skin of water, for which he was very grateful, before hands tucked back onto the bump of her belly. Her soft red almost pink eyes roved around at the people watching, even though it wasn't nearly as many as the first few days. "Why is this such a problem for you?"

Normally he wouldn't speak back to his teachers, most questions asked aloud being rhetorical, but this particular woman would actually listen to him and not reprimand him for speaking. "It's just me." He sniffled to clear his nose— ignoring the taste in the back of his throat that told him he just snorted mud —to take a swig of the clean water, swishing it around his mouth before spitting it onto the ground, trying to clear the grime out that always splashed into his mouth. "I can't do magic, this has a basis in it." Even though the dry bitter taste was still present he took a deep pull from the drink and began to down it.

The woman sighed and cocked her hip, one arm crossed above her extended belly while the other rested on it with her hand under her chin. "Hmm…" He was hopefully she would say they skip this particular training then, but that was entirely too wishful of thinking, and Sheik wasn't foolish enough to get his hopes up. "Maybe there's another way…"

Oh gods he hoped so, anything that got him out of running through the mud and water, even if it meant walking on his hands he'd take it. His muscles were so over-taxed that the back of his knees and the fronts of his thighs felt like they were bruised whenever he touched them even if the skin looked fine. He didn't even get a day off to recuperate, there were no 'weekend' or 'holidays' for a Sheikah, short of a family member dying and he was out of those so quite literally this torture could be indefinite.

"Probably not though. We'll just keep at this till Impa says otherwise since she knows whats best for you, okay?" She slapped him on the back with hormonal cheer and sauntered back over a safe distance from the splash zone, sitting down on the chair someone had provided for her earlier in the day. "Well, get to it."

Till Impa says other wise? In that case he was screwed. By the idea of things the Lady was rather busy, and though Sheik had written about the trial and failures in his letter, that would take half a week to reach her, and then the time for her to reply…

He was doomed. He wasn't going to be able to use his legs _ever _again. Life was over. Just. Plain. Over.

The blond slinked back to the edge of the water, trying not to think of how sore his body was. Somewhere of toward the front entrance there was a slight commotion, but he could care less, instead busy being a mud man, ready for more.

"Remember, think of walking _on _the water, not in it."

Wow. Thanks. No that was _really_ helpful. It was completely easy to think of that impossible feat when he'd just spend the last week running circles in the sludge. Completely. He was really confident he was going to do it_ this_ time.

"Wonder whose visiting the village…"

Maybe he could slip on some short stilts while she was distracted and be done with this horse shit.

Sheik resigned himself to the trial and outcome to step out into the water, not in the slightest surprised when he fell over a foot down to the bottom. He didn't need instruction from the woman, nor the sigh she gave, before he started running, feet easily finding the worn tracks in the bottom. He couldn't help but think that this whole training was just one big vicious circle, and he was really starting to fear he'd never break out of it.

"Oh, it's a little boy. And he's wearing all green. How cute."

'Cute' was the farthest word or thought from his mind right now, in fact the idea of cute didn't even exist in his universe, it had no place. Studies, literature, training, crafting, fighting; _cute_ was one word he could deal with cutting from his vocabulary and not suffer any loss.

"He gave the elder some thing… and now they're taking him somewhere… how curious…"

He had no time or care for gossip right now, he had a stupendously pointless life of training to deal with. No making a moment for some strange green kid visiting their village—

"And what a lovely fairy, must be a blessing, makes me think about names for my little one…"

The mud covered boy made a sloppy skid to a halt, having to pinwheel his arms just to keep from splashing down in the thick waters. "Wait!" Sheik cough as he righted himself, turning back to the front of the village to try and spot the boy, but not seeing him anywhere in sight. "Where is he?" A child, in green, _with_ a fairy? That could only mean one thing, right? And that shouldn't be at all possible. And of all places what purpose would a Kokiri child have in visiting the Sheikah?

The woman to his side stood up with a grunt, picking up her chair and beginning to walk toward the part of the village with everyones home. "To see the elders, what else. And looks like someone has mail, so we'll cut today short."

Mail? Wha—

"Sheik, from the Lady Impa."

Sheik turned to look up at the muddy bank where one of the older students stood, holding out the folded and wax sealed parchment to him as far as he could reach over the mud, clearly wanting little to do with the dirty area. Not that he could blame him. He moved to trudge out of the little puddle, ignoring the way bits of caked on mud flecked off his skin at the movements as he approached the other to grab the letter with his fingertips, being extremely careful not to dirty it. He coughed, forever resigned to the taste of dirt. "Did you see the Kokiri?"

"They took him away, didn't say anything about him to us." The older boy had at least given him an answer before walking away, but still it wasn't what he wanted to hear. A real living forest child, right here in their home, and he'd missed him? It certainly would have been interesting to see the boy, not that the blond expected to be able to ask anything of him, and certainly not in his present state, but still the thought of it made it easy to ignore the pains in his body for the moment.

That and the crimson wax emblem on the letter in his hand.

The Kokiri child had delivered it specifically for _him._

Sheik felt a blush come on at the rushing blood, the feeling of importance washing over him. He had to get home, get cleaned up, and open this right away! For a Kokiri to deliver this from the Castle to him… the journey made for such a letter… and of such mysterious importance… His stomach was stirring with anxiousness as he began to stomp quickly home, head down to deter anyone that wished to make conversation with him.

He practically shoved in the front door, slamming it closed behind him in a clear signal to the rest of the village to not disturb him. Sheik could barely think, but knew first thing first he needed to get cleaned up, setting the letter down on the mantle and slopping off to the bathroom, uncaring of the mess he made as he stripped along the way. Thankfully he still had a bucket of water left from last night, and even though the water was freezing he cared little as he stood over the drain in the corner and dumped it over his head, squinting closed his eyes as the dirt and sweat was rinsed away. All he could think about was that letter, what it possibly could be, the Kokiri boy in the village; he could go see him, speak with him, maybe it would be an acceptable reason for him to physically leave and visit Impa at the castle.

He hadn't been this excited in years, not since Impa took him in after the attack on the village.

The swiftly cleaned and dressed boy moved out to his living room, red eyes all but blind to anything beside the pristine parchment sitting just across the room. He took a deep inhale before picking it up, uncaring about fighting away the smile that was tugging at his face, since no one was around to see it anyways. _'Just have to be careful, and ready. This could be really important, like a mission… Wow, a mission!'_ Sheik very rarely had childish indulgences and day dreams, but at the moment he couldn't help himself, everything about this screamed new and exciting; his thought of carefulness forgotten as he expertly grabbed the letter opener off the mantle and slit the wax seal from its resting place.

Impas magic caught in the back of his nose, greeting him as if the woman herself was walking through the front door. Tiny scratched up fingers pulled apart the thick parchment as ruby reds wasted no time in reading the crisp black lettering.

—

AN: Okay, I'm getting pretty bored. Not bored, but, this story hasn't hit any exciting points yet, no Sheik Link interaction we're all looking for. So here's my goal. We are over 50k now, Ima aim to time jump not long after 100k. That's an acceptable goal for me. Considering I started posting 3/2 and a month and a half later we've broken 50k, by summer here things will get busy.

I'm sorry I know it's kinda dragging on for you all. But I like to think I update more and quicker than most writers so even though the beginnings slow going I promise much more to come and it will be better I swear so much on this.

So nothing important to say. Tally hoe good people.

~IANR636


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